Frenzy: DxD edition
by Darklord331
Summary: Shiro, no last name. Origins, unknown. Life, shitty. Friends, few. Outlook, grim. Will that stop him from living his life? Nope! Get ready for the second coming of a Frenzy!
1. Chapter 1

**Frenzy: DxD Edition**

_In this world…_

_Is the destiny of man dictated by some transcendent entity or law…?_

_Is it like the hand of god hovering above…?_

_At least it is true, that man has had no control… even of his own will._

CLATTER-CLATTER-CLATTER!

The sound of wooden weapons clashing against one another echoed throughout the centre of a large, open park, the source coming from an assembly of young kids around 6 to 7 years of age. The park they were located in, resided within a small village, one located within the Indian Outskirts. There wasn't much to this village, as thanks to its geographical layout it made things quite difficult for the people to live there. The soil usually dried up too quickly for many crops to properly grow there, leading to occasional food shortages, forcing the village to turn to… other sources to obtain the goods that they need in order to stay functioning.

Despite this, the village made it though the years alright, by the skin of their teeth but alright nonetheless, though if there was one thing 'different' about this village… it would be a certain set of 'customs' they adhered to…

But back to the children.

These children had gathered around the park's centre, their numbers easily reaching about 40 kids. Furthermore, half of these kids looked to be wearing one kind of uniform, whilst the other half looked to wear another type which implied that this group of 40 children seemed to be made from multiple smaller groups.

One half wore fancy, well-kept kurtas and pants whilst having sandals over their feats, each of these being different in colour, with different patterns all to indicate how wealthy they were. Each of the children had dark, black hair and eyes, though in terms of body types, they looked fairly healthy… with a few large ones mixed in here and there. They looked like the type of children who would fit in quite well with the members of higher class society, having enough money to live comfortably for an entire lifetime… this feeling being further enhanced by two things: One, their expressions of varying levels of arrogance, smug pride, and sneers towards their opposition like they were looking at mere insects.

Two, their opposition.

The contrasts between these two couldn't have been more obvious, like the distance between the skies and the earth themselves. Whereas the former party seemed to dress like they were looking to impress, these children looked rather ugly in comparison…. Well, not ugly per say, but they did wear things like tattered clothing with tears, holes and stuff in them, showcasing their lack of wealth especially compared to the opposing group. They looked to be covered in dirt, mud and all sorts of different dirty things, yet they didn't look like they minded one bit, instead they were currently forming a semi-circle around a specific space, the other half doing the same whilst both seemed to be keeping their gases locked onto two people…Two very SPECIFIC individuals.

"Looks like the fights pretty even so far."

"I wager that the challenger won't last a few more strikes though."

"I'll match that wager, whoever loses has to add to the payment pouch."

"Fine."

Comments like these flowed through the rich kids' ranks, their snide and crude gazes leering at the fight like they were wanting it to be over already so they could go on with their days. To them, it seemed as though the fight itself had already been decided before it could be finished and were now betting on how long it would take before the fight did so… sure-fire signs of rich children with almost too much money to spend. A couple of them, likely the ones who had used their funds to 'hire' this lad for this little event, looked especially smug, absolute confidence shining from their beings in that their investment would end in their victory.

Meanwhile…

"Beat that guy up already!"

"C'mon, what's the hold up, can't you just finish this guy off?"

"We wanna be on time for curfew!"

Things weren't even nice on the opposite side, either. Various comments like these escaped the pompous, rich-looking children as they watched the two. Those individuals were the TRUE source of those wood clattering sounds, as they duked it out like rabid beasts against one another. One of them looked to be 3 to 4 years older than the rest, sporting a rather large wooden, spiked mace as he grinned sadistically at the other youth before him. "Heh, for someone of low birth to think they can best someone like myself… how laughable!" he proclaimed, howling as he swung his mace towards the other youth, intending to smack him upside the head and knock him out to claim the victory he craved.

As for the other youth…

"C'mon abnormal, get up!"

"You think things will get better without toughing it out?!"

"Stand up, stop making everyone look bad!"

Jeers and scornful remarks were slammed onto that youth's shoulders like many weights unceremoniously dropped, even as the young boy struggled to stay on his feet from a prior strike that he hadn't been able to block in time. The youth though, if one were to look at him then they would wonder how he even fit in with other children in India, since they all had black hair and eyes with slightly tanned skin due to the hot climate. Instead, this youth almost looked like a white sheep in a herd of black ones, with slightly paler-than-normal coloured skin, pure spiky white hair that fluttered about with his movements, and a pair of crimson coloured eyes **(AN: Think of Ragna the Bloodedge's Hairstyle)**. His body looked to be covered with bruises and pieces of shrapnel from the wooden mace impaled his skin, not enough to draw blood though.

Even so, the boy showed little reaction to these taunts, his 6-year-old brain focusing solely on what he only needed to do: win, as he gave a hard stare at his foe. He stood on all fours first, then spat out some saliva mixed with some blood as he slowly got back into a hunched position whilst keeping a firm grip on his wooden sword... a weapon which, by the way, sported no small amount of cracks on its form due to the repeated clashes it had against its enemy. Yet, the boy didn't pay this much heed as he saw his opponent already rearing his wooden Mace for another strike, one which both of them knew… would be the last one. One more strike and this battle would be over, and the victor would be decided.

One…

strike….

In that case…

Increasing the grip on his sword and putting both hands on it, the boy leapt forwards towards his opponent, swinging his wooden weapon with all the might that he could muster. The older kid howled with laughter at this, thinking this to be a last-ditch attempt at scrambling some sort of victory, as he swung his Mace from his right hand horizontally to the left with full force. The two attacks neared each other at high speeds, with each second feeling like 10 and 10 seconds feeling like 100… time seemed to lose all its meaning, along with everything else between these two children as their weapons made to collide. Now, if these two weapons were indeed to have connected as everyone had believed they would, then not only would the sword lose against the Mace, but its fragile state would have resulted in it shattering and wounding its original wielder in the process.

That is, if it WERE to connect…

For just a couple seconds before they could touch, the white-haired youth pulled a fast one on the older lad, ducking down and siding across the other youth's exposed right side. This movement got pulled off quite quick for someone his age, as well as elected surprised looks from the surrounding children, though the richer looking ones also had slightly nervous looks gradually coming on since they saw where the white-haired youth had ended up: right behind the larger lad.

"You rely on your physical strength too much…"

Those words were all that the white-haired youth said, his voice low, soft and quiet as if he almost never used it, before swiftly swinging his sword onto the back of the larger boy's head, breaking his weapon completely in the process. However, he didn't care, for the damage had been done as he'd hit a certain section of the larger lad's neck, which caused the back of the lads' eyes to roll backwards as he fell to the ground with a THUD, letting a small tremor ripple through the ground.

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Silence dominated the park, thick and heavy like a mountain being dropped on top of it, as both groups stared in absolute befuddlement, their brains struggling to process what they had just seen. Before, things had looked like the rich kids selected fighter would have won this little slug fest they'd been challenged to, but the next thing they knew, it had all been turned upside down on their asses, and now they didn't know what to think anymore. Some of them had their mouths hanging open, none of them displaying their previous demeanours anymore as the white-haired youth trudged over to one of them, his expression sharp like a living blade. Holding out his hand, the boy spoke two words with enough strength in them to snap them out of their stupor.

"Pay up."

"Ah… R-Right…"

One of the children held out a small pouch towards the boy, the bag big enough to fit in his small hand if one were to try and gauge its size. Swiping it from the rich kid (earning him a yelp of surprise and a weak glare as a result), the youth looked inside and seemed to try and count the money, although in the end he stopped doing so with a huff and proceeded to head towards the Park's main entrance. The boy stopped at the entrance though, having reached for a sack which lay there next to a long metal blade, one shaped like a medieval longsword, and picked both up. He'd put the pouch inside the sack, shouldered it whilst grabbing the sword to sheathe it by his waist. He then proceeded to leave the park with a slight limp on his left foot, the other children wearing rags quickly leaving as well.

All in all… some 'unique' customs existed in this village alright.

Unbeknownst to the boy, a pair of eyes eyed his retreating self intently from atop a nearby rooftop, a pair of eyes that sported this sharp, almost bird-like, gaze. These eyes, they didn't even regard the other children as existences 'important' to them, instead they only glued themselves to the white-haired boy's frame. It almost felt like this person regarded nothing else about this park but him, as everything else seemed to be beneath his notice.

One could guess how… unnerving it would be to look into eyes like these, as it felt as though eyes like these were supposed to be aimed at prey, not actual human beings.

Furthermore, what their owner thought about the boy, couldn't be told thanks to a great poker face the eyes' owner had, but whether or not that would change would remain to be seen.

After the whole incident, the boy could be seen walking down a rather long, dirty side street, intending to take a longer path back to home so the other kids could be there first. Hisses escaped him on occasion whilst he held his right arm with his left hand, the injuries he'd sustained during that fight being more so than he had first thought. The fight itself hadn't been easy, nor did he have very much experience fighting against foes like that, if his foe had been even a tiny bit faster than him, the boy doubted he would have been able to survive that last hit. Well, not like many would give a damn if he really DID die, lets not mince facts here, just thinking about what the other kids had been saying to him caused him to sport twitching eyebrows whilst he barely held in his anger.

He didn't want to have to deal with them any longer than necessary, and in with the current path he walked, he could at least have some time to himself before he were to get lectured by the caretakers at the orphanage once again, something which had been WAY too common in his life. One thing which the boy took solace in however, was the soft clinking of the longsword strapped to his back, the cool feeling of its metal providing some manner of comfort… although he could safely say that it was more than that. The feeling of a weapon, something that was meant for taking lives, it relieved him. Before having received it from the caretakers, he had only made do with wooden weapons, and those usually weren't enough to deter thieves wanting to steal his earnings for the day, but now? With the sight of an actual weapon encounters like that dropped, even if the boy still barely held any semblance of ability to use the sword. The sword's presence, therefore made the sharp spikes of pain which wracked his body thanks to the injuries he'd sustained all the more bearable, even when he reached over and picked the wooden shrapnel pieces out of his body resulting in even more slight hisses of pain escaping his lips.

"You finished your earnings for the day too, Shiro?"

All of a sudden, a soft, feminine voice broke the boy, also known as Shiro as she called him, from his thoughts. His eyes glanced upwards whilst widening in slight surprise, although they soon returned to his default blank gaze as his eyes fell onto the speaker. The speaker turned out to be a young girl, about 2 years older than him since she was 8 years old, and she sat on a small barrel having seemingly been waiting for him. The young girl looked like, once she grew older, she would eventually become an outstanding beauty who could have men wrapped around her finger with such ease that it would be almost unfair. Her skin, slightly tanned, glistened in the sunlight whilst her black, long hair fell to her shoulders in length, although the boy had once heard that she wanted to grow it to her waist when she was older. And her matching eyes bore into his own with a knowing look to them. Her clothes, much like his own, looked to be quite tattered and rag-like, showing signs of coming apart at the seams, yet also showing signs of maintenance that hinted at this girl's nimbleness with her hands.

Upon seeing her, his blank gaze maintained itself for a few moments… before it broke down and a slightly more relaxed, soft one took its place, a small smile tugging at his lips at the sight of her. "Yeah… I'm done for the day… Brihanna…" he replied, sighing as he stepped forward again, this time hitting a rather aggravating injury to his foot that caused him to wince sharply. Just as he almost tripped over and would have dropped his stuff, the girl suddenly dashed forwards and caught him, grasping him gently by his shoulders to help him steady himself again.

Her gaze fell on the various injuries, and when she did so, her eyes darkened as she almost bit out the following words like they were the venom of a snake. "You took part in multiple outs again, didn't you?" she questioned, although her tone made it seem more like a statement as she hoisted an arm over his shoulder and helped him along the street. At first Shiro had tried to resist, but his body (and the 'don't stop this' look she gave him) eventually won over and he ceased such futile attempts. After a few moments of silence, Brihanna shook her head in dismay, though Shiro already had an idea as to what would be coming out of her mouth, so he opted to try and interrupt her but a hard stare from the girl showed him why that would be a bad idea. "I know I cannot stop you from engaging in such recklessness, its within your nature and all." She stated, of which the white-haired boy gave no rebuttal since she wasn't exactly wrong after all. "But you don't have to keep pushing yourself to earn extra today. I swear, you and that big lug-head are exactly the same, why is it that the guys I know are such stubborn idiots who don't take their lives so seriously?"

'… So neither of us have told her, then…' the boy realized to himself upon hearing her words, his head hanging low whilst his expression remained serious, resulting in Brihanna being none the wiser to his internal monologue. He would have thought that the eldest of their little trio, Jamal, would have told her about their recent decision, but it seemed that judging by those words he just heard right now Brihanna apparently still remained in the dark. '…Perhaps that's why big bro arranged for use to meet at THAT place once we've divided up our earnings.' Pushing those thoughts aside for the moment, and to make sure to not let his companion know what he was thinking, Shiro lifted his head a little to gaze with his left eye into her own two ones. "You get us guys so well…" he commented dryly, the left corner of his lips twitching slightly. "But then again you have to admit, out of the three of us, I'm the least problematic."

For a moment, Brihanna remained silent… till she looked at the ground in weariness. "That's way too true…"

A while later, the two kids arrived at their destination: a barren-looking, wooden Orphanage which looked like it could fall over at any second. Cracked windows with some having varying sized holes in them, planks looking like they're about to snap, the works. Furthermore, the rooftop had holes in it here and there, which had made some of the children dislike things like the rain, sleet and snow since they'd keep getting soaked in their sleep, forcing them to relocate to somewhere which didn't have those holes… not very good places, by the way.

One could hear merry sounds of those children within though, sounds which came from the children inside as they went about their business. A few still remained outside to play, though Brihanna and Shiro kept clear of them as they walked along the marked pathway towards its front entrance.

"…Hey, Shiro…?"

"Hm…?"

"Do you think that… this life is unfair?"

"Of course, but then again its cruel to anyone the first chance it gets…"

This wasn't the first time Brihanna had asked that question, but every time she did so it didn't lessen the effect it had on him. After all, Shiro could count on one hand who gave a crap about him, and she had been one of them, thus he had learned through some deductions on his part that seeing him like this really didn't sit well with her. Since they were young… or rather younger, the two of them had always been quite close, practically inseparable, though if anyone were to ask why they wouldn't be able to offer any concrete answer. The two just… clicked together, although in the beginning things had been a little… rocky, especially with how Shiro had been rather cautious around her, looking for any signs of deception whenever she had been around him. Of course he didn't do that anymore, but he remained aware that her presence around him often caused the other kids to bully him even more intensely than they usually did… something which he suspected had more to do with their desire to be close to this girl who never gave them the time of day than their dislike for him based off how he looked. Shiro wasn't an idiot after all, he knew for a FACT that he looked… different compared to the kids at the orphanage.

Even so however, he didn't exactly have much of a better choice than this, especially with what he and the sole other person whom they held a close bond, almost a brotherhood, with had recently decided to do. Not only that, but Shiro wasn't a fool, nor was he naive like many children his age were, he didn't let some pointless hope blind him to the necessity of his current reality. This village could be considered one of the more… cruel ones, especially with the traditions that they practiced, traditions which according to some rumours he'd overheard from the adults in the Orphanage, only started in the last 100 years.

It involved a means to managed the Village's population since, thanks to their desire to have lasting families, people tend to give birth to lots of children at once, more so than what the village could sustain or so he'd heard. The tradition was that certain Orphanages be prioritized over others, and those that were chosen would have sufficient support from the Village to operate at maximum efficiency. However, for the not so fortunate ones, they would be left to only defend for themselves, with barely any kind of financial support, and it wasn't like they could just move to those more fortunate Orphanages either, since there wouldn't be enough job vacations, according to the adults. Shiro didn't understand a lot of it, but that had been what he'd heard.

However, there was a way for an Orphanage like the one he stayed in, one of the lesser ones, to earn money and increase their standing amongst the others, and that turned out to be these 'turf battles' as they were coined by the staff members. These Turf battles, which had originated 100 years ago when the village, at the brink of collapse, had reached out to some… less than official sources, involved the children selecting a representative, and then have them duke it out for a specified amount of money. The amount varies depending on how much of a threat to one's life there was, as the more money one wanted to make, the greater the threat is to their life. For example, in Shiro's case. The threat levels he usually went with were the medium ones, which involved the use of wooden weaponry which, whilst not as threatening as something like a REAL weapon, could still do plenty of damage if they managed to aggravate previous wounds. Low threat levels would be just through the use of fists to fight, but the money earned through this means was barely anything at all, so very few people actually supported it.

Therefore, no matter how many times she would ask him that same question, his response would always be the same, and she knew this. Still, she kept asking anyways, though it never really annoyed him or anything, it came from one of the few people who gave a damn about him after all. He also understood the true reason why she asked him this same question, as a means of coping with their twisted situation… fighting battles for a cause nobody believed in? Potentially getting killed off for reasons they didn't understand? Yeah, Shiro may be young, but it hadn't taken him a long time for him to understand that this life wasn't something that just anyone lived.

SCREEEEEE!

Just as the two of them made it to the door to push it open, someone seemed to have beaten the two children to it apparently, as the door got pulled open to reveal someone on the other side. For a brief second, Shiro tensed within his friend's embrace, already intent on initiating some hostile action in case it were one of the children who despised him for his appearance. He wasn't wrong to be cautious either, since they often tried pulling pranks on him to ridicule him for said appearance… though these thoughts soon vanished from his mind when he saw a bright grin on the person's familiar face.

"Yo, Shiro! Back from your adventuring, I see?! Heh, you look like you got put through the wringer this time!"

Boldly declaring that with a voice so passionate that it resembled a bonfire, a boy 4 years his senior stood before the two grinning like a loon whilst Brihanna rolled her eyes and allowed Shiro to stand on his own. Mostly since he couldn't stand anyone helping him when this guy was around, since he would make sure to tease the hell out of him for some reason… interestingly enough it happened especially often whenever he had been around Brihanna. In any case, the boy had the standard looks of an Asian-descent person, with his short black hair styed in messy spikes, black eyes and a light tan on his skin, whilst his attire consisted of some tattered shirt/short combo which exposed the scar-ridden legs and arms he sported.

"Jamal…"

Shiro greeted the older boy with a slight smile on his lips, one eye closed whilst he stood straight despite his injured person. With their lack of medical supplies, and this Orphanage having a rather bad infirmary, there wasn't really much point in getting them treated. Not to mention that, one other abnormality about him was that his body had a… slightly above average healing ability, one which he believed got developed over time due to needing to constantly recover from dangerous fights. Essentially, he was made from some tough stuff as Shiro stood tall before his friend.

Said friend quickly pulled him inside with Brihanna following suit. "Heh, man don't you look like a wreck! C'mon, we'll get you to our room, I managed to scrounge up some bandages, you may heal weird, but you should still have something help keep your wounds from getting infected." Jamal stated as he took Shiro inside, not noticing the watchful eyes of a shadowy figure from behind a nearby corner.

"Tch… grr…!"

"No whining now, ya big baby! Its your own fault for taking all these hits."

"But this isn't much compared to what YOU were like a couple days ago, Jamal?"

"Ah, r-right, that correct I-I guess, hahahaha…"

"#Stare#"

Later, the three kids found themselves in the bedroom the trio shared, something that was only possible due to the orphanage's expenses making it nigh impossible for each child to have their own room. Hence, some kids had to bunk together, sleeping on these thin sheets of straw with only the clothes on their backs to serve as bed covers. Right now, however, Jamal seemed to be laughing awkwardly whilst trying to treat Shiro's injuries by wrapping bandages around the many cuts over his body. Well, some of them didn't look too bad, and whilst they did have a limited number of bandages the guy's body would make it so that by the time the next morning arrived the wounds would be pretty much good as gone.

Didn't mean that the older lad had the same benefits for whenever HE pushed himself too much, though.

"Say, Jamal…" Shiro began, getting an acknowledging hum from the guy as he wrapped the last of the bandages around his wounds. "Why haven't you told Brihanna about it yet? The reason why we push ourselves to earn as much as possible…"

"Ah… I thought I had…" The older boy replied, blinking owlishly as he thought back, realizing that Shiro indeed had a point. It didn't help that Brihanna was casting them suspicious gazes, like she were suspecting them of going into criminal activities… well, according to a few travelling merchants they'd occasionally see pass by, it would seem that some of their 'traditions' could be seen as such. "Huh… well damn, I guess we didn't, then… sorry 'bout that Bri." He then spoke apologetically to her whilst rubbing the back of his head in a sheepish manner. "Didn't mean to exclude you from this, I genuinely thought you knew."

Hearing this, Brihanna raised a brow as she crossed over her chest, looking mighty impatient. "Then could you PLEASE tell me what's gotten into you two? I mean, its been like this for the last few days, but you two have been rapidly dwindling our medical supplies whenever you all try to 'work', even though you try to shrug them off and say that other kids need them more!" she bellowed, her cheeks flushed and her eyes brimming with the frustration she felt inside. It wasn't wrong of her to think this way either, since she had been enduring the sight of the sole two friends she had in this crappy orphanage returning from long trips away from the Orphanage, of which she would always get these nasty looks aimed at her (especially from the older male and even a few female kids) until the boys returned looking like soldiers recently returning from a vicious, bloody battle. Ironically, whilst Shiro seemed to have the more injuries of the two, it would seem that Jamal actually won out in the exhaustion category since, not long after they would return, he would conk out like a drunkard finally unable to handle being awake any longer.

Not a state that anyone wanted to see their friends in, let's be frank here.

"Well, you see the truth is…"

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"… Haaah?! You guys have GOT to be pulling my leg here!" For a moment, Brihanna had been listening quietly and intently to Jamal when he had begun telling her of their ultimate goal, their reason for Shiro and him going so far as to get into the Turf Battles that they did. Whilst he had spoken with Shiro sitting off to the side with his eyes closed, her expression remained the same so her emotions remained unknown to the two boys… well, at least on the surface if anyone looked at this from an outside perspective, meanwhile both Jamal and Shiro had figured since the beginning what her reaction would be in the end. Their assumptions turned out to be the right ones too as, by the end of the oldest boy's speech ended, she couldn't contain her feelings any longer and had questioned their very sanity with her loud yet hushed response. "You guys REALLY intend to go that far?! Building yourselves a home closer to one of THOSE places?! For ALL of us?!"

Rubbing the back of his head again with a grin that pretty much screamed 'what can you do?' whilst Shiro rolled his eyes, Jamal chuckled sheepishly. "Yeah, I get what you mean by that, it does sound insane, especially for a bunch of nobodies like us…" The bod admitted to himself, something which Shiro could agree with wholeheartedly, especially since Brihanna's words had been quite similar to what he had once responded upon finding out himself. However, the oldest of the trio wasn't done there as his features shifted to a more serious, sombre kind of expression. "Though if I'm honest, its more my idea than Shiro's, I just asked him to help me out, God knows how many times I had to convince him due to that stubborn notion of his that people'll never accept him. Me on the other hand, I figured if he contributed as one of the founders of the new Orphanage people wouldn't look down on him so much." He explained, or rather tried to as Brihanna had already gotten up in his face, both literally and figuratively.

It had been based off his own understanding of the nature behind the Children in this darn Orphanage, that had been why Shiro had been against this whole idea in the first place, especially initially. After all, he wasn't someone whom had been well liked due to his appearance, often gifted with the splendid names of 'ugly', 'abnormal', and 'freak' since the first few memories he could recall along with various forms of physical abuse (such as physical beatings which he had recently started fighting back in, pranks such as replacing some of his foods with… less than savoury things like bugs and rats among others), it had been clear to him that nobody would bat an eyelash (save for these two) if he just up and vanished one day. That had been the point that Shiro had argued with Jamal on since the founding of this little 'dream' the guy had.

But, in the end, something said by his sole guy friend stopped his resistance cold.

Something which Jamal then began to speak with Brihanna about as he leaned backwards with his back pressing against a wall. "Brihanna… aren't you tired? Of living like this?" he asked her, and before she could respond he simply continued on. "I sure as hell am. I'm sick and tired of living like this, like we're nothing but mangy rats desperately stepping on one another for scraps of food. But, unlike the rest of these sheep that don't plan on doing anything to change this, I will do something about it. I'll make my own Orphanage, one which will surpass all the others in financial support even if I suck at numbers and all that shit. I don't care personally about making any more friends than you two, but I'll make damn sure that my bro gets a chance to have friends by the time he reaches adulthood, I'll make it a certainty that they'll respect him and give him the treatment he deserves instead of this shit. You could call that my [Dream], something I'll stake my very LIFE on." He proclaimed, reaching towards one of the room's wooden planks and lifting it upwards, putting it aside and pulling out something from beneath… a sword, or rather a Scimitar one that he pointed forwards at the two of them.

Seeing this gaze, Brihanna stared with slightly widened eyes, her face that of complete disbelief… until she finally let out a resigned sigh as she went to the opposite side of the room. There, she did something similar to what Jamal had done with one of the planks and pulled out a small Shortbow, holding it in her right hand as she re-joined them. "Well, considering how stubborn you two are there's likely no chance of me convincing you all otherwise… plus life at this Orphanage is kinda crappy anyways so I'll help out where I can, and you both can't stop me." She declared, not like the two boys had any intention of stopping her in the first place.

"Wouldn't dream of it, we know what happens to those who tried to boss you around, remember that Billy character?"

"Hm? Whose that?"

"Oh, you don't recall? Well, wasn't he…?"

"I don't know a 'Billy' but I DO remember a piece of garbage who tried to mug from me and said that whatever was mine was his like any other's, so I simply took what he thought important from him in return."

"… Jamal? Women can be scary."

"Important life lesson, Shiro: Women can be scarier than life itself."

"… Noted."

Thus, night fell upon the town, as one ordinary day signalled the beginning… of CHANGE.

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**Chapter end**

**READ THIS FIRST**

**Hello everyone my name is Darklord331 and this is my third attempt to make a story, I had troubles with making one which is my Theseus one, so I asked King carlos for help and he decided to lead me to a writer named HunterxKiller87, we brainstormed some ideas and came up with this type of story called Frenzy: DxD style, its a berserk inspired story that we've come up with a realistic fanfic that we created, we are still thinking for some more ideas so we will not update more frequently and you will know why when you read this in the bottom. So most of the credit belongs to my writer HunterxKiller87 be sure to check out his story called One eyed G Re:birth or for short OEG, Thank you everyone for reading this story. **

**Be sure to leave a review and I'll see you guys later BYE!**

**Hello, hunter Here. This is my first attempt at a Fate/DxD crossover...although it might be more of a cross between DxD and a Different anime series the more chapters that come out. Updates will not be frequent since this is the first time I'm doing this, but I hope you all enjoyed what I've wrote. This one is going to take place before canon, as will several arcs that will eventually tie into the main story. I just have to set things up here, but if you want to thank anyone thank Darklord331 since we've been gauging various ideas for it. Hope you all like this and look forward to more chaps.**

**Peace Out!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 - Fated Meeting**

Mornings… they were HARDLY the favourite days in the book of a certain white-haired Orphan.

Worse still, were the Monday mornings, as they seemed to have a certain 'charm' to them which made the less desirable members of society want to crawl out of their hidey holes across the entire village then set up ambushes for potential candidates for the Turf Battles. They did this usually because there was a high likelihood that the brats these candidates represented foolishly gave them enough money to wager for their starting battles, resulting in adults trying to 'push them around' sort to speak.

Those that did this, often found their funds stolen from them from the grown up 'thieves' who either hogged the money for themselves… or had 'employers' sneakily gathering some extra cash for their own purposes, and since there were few witnesses at all, these things couldn't be reported. Heck, even if a witness DID manage to report it, because that witness would usually be some unknown schmuck or someone of little importance, those in power would generally brush him or her off.

Children, especially orphans, slaving away in this so-called 'job' and the adults who profited from it, that's pretty much how the system ran itself, honestly. How it managed to survive this long was considered to be a complete, utter mystery that would baffle any economic and political mind who'd attempt to solve it.

The system itself, as barbaric and far-behind the times (possibly being inspired by the medieval Europe period) as it was, could only be described as broken and illogical. Kind of like a VERY worn out piece of equipment like a small cog in a large, rusty machine about to fall apart at the seams any second, yet the masters of said machine kept it running at top work rate regardless.

If a civilian who'd been raised in a well-off city with a good upbringing, education etc were to look at this system, they'd be APPALLED by it, no doubts could be made about that. Not only did it have WAY too many holes in it that could be easily exploited by the right people, making the rich folk richer and leaving the poor people without hardly any income, but it would not show even the slightest amount of mercy to those who struggle just to earn a daily wage.

Furthermore, there were certain Laws put into place to persuade people 'against' the 'idea' of either working in another job, thus resulting in there being few jobs that weren't connected to these Turf Battles or leaving the village entirely.

One could even consider this entire village to be a thorn-covered cage, and any outsiders visiting would have to conform to these laws or face some… rather harsh consequences. Such things HAD happened before, after all.

This would end up making a certain amount of people wonder just why such a system had been approved in the first place.

Some would wonder if the Village's Elders, since the Village had an Elder Council governing it, were filled with a bunch of cruel sadists who enjoyed these twisted activities.

Others didn't really care much since it easily allowed them to monopolise the Village's economical budget.

Then there's people who just didn't give a shit entirely and tried to live life regardless.

This thought process in particular, had repeatedly crossed through Shiro's mind as the sun's rays illuminated his facial features through the holes in the Orphanage's roof, holes which also served as windows to allow the residents within to look at the night skies. His eyes, covered in dirt and gruel from the Floorboards beneath him like any Orphan in this hellhole, tightened their eyelids in an attempt to block the sunlight for some more sleep. It wasn't often that he had this much sleep due to some prank the other Kids would sometimes cook up for him in another display of their 'dissatisfaction' with his appearance, so Shiro wanted to get as much as he could for the hectic day ahead.

However this turned out to be a fruitless endeavour, resulting in them slowly opening with a dark gleam of annoyance within them. Shiro groaned as he slowly sat up, holding his back which lightly ached from sleeping on these floorboards, even though he had done this ever since he could recall his first solid memory in this twisted lifestyle of his. Well, others would call it twisted, he himself just called it.

'Ugh… Monday mornings are always the most annoying…' the young boy thought as he reached with his right hand to the sword which he slept beside, its sheath having shielded him from getting cut by its blade, before grasping it and standing up. Looking around whilst strapping the sheathe to his person, Shiro noticed that neither Brihanna nor Jamal could be seen, their usual sleeping areas empty including their own weaponry. 'Well, Jamal IS the one who is the most eager out of us to make a good haul on days like this as the eldest of our little trio. Brihanna, I guess she wants to make sure he doesn't get himself killed…'

Thinking this, a low hum mixed with confusion and slight happiness escaped his lips, matched by a half-smile as Shiro's preparations for the day (not like he had much need for a lot of things like washing (unless he were covered in blood and even then the ability TO wash was rare for kids like him), brushing teeth etc) neared their completion. That always did confuse him, why someone like her who could use her looks to entice richer kids to live a life of luxury, instead simply stayed by their sides in this shitty Orphanage. He knew for a FACT that she disliked this place just as much as any other kid would, yet she still stayed with them.

However, he would always appreciate it all the same, for having people close to one another like this, showing great loyalty and consideration (especially considering how Kids and Adults in this Orphanage tended to treat him), made living in this Orphanage much more bearable.

'Whelp, time to go out there to crack some more heads… if I encounter any 'thieves' I'll likely have to book it so I can preserve strength for getting my job done…' Shiro thought once his Sword had been strapped to his back. Since his preparations had been complete, he hoped to avoid any confrontations with other children till he left the orphanage, though in his heart Shiro felt like this would be an impossibility just like all the other times. The kids usually were a little more active on Mondays, even though some looked like they'd rather be sleeping… just so they could torment him further.

Ah, the joys of people, right?

One can literally taste the sarcasm there, huh…

Yet, as Shiro left his, Brihanna and Jamal's makeshift 'bedroom' to go about his daily business, the young male didn't notice a familiar shadowy figure watching him with it's hawk-like gaze, the same one whom had been stalking him since yesterday.

* * *

As Shiro had somewhat anticipated…

"Hey look, it's the white head!"

"Yo white head, you still up for earning your keep?"

"Well it's not like you have any choice in the matter, hahaha…!"

… other kids were waiting for him by the Orphanage's main entrance, or rather, the outside one and not the one that led to the main building which gave him a PRETTY good idea of what they intended. The fact that they had their weapons on their person also seemed like a particular motivator here.

Each of them looked to be wearing similar tattered looking clothes, but each of them also had their own unique builds though as Shiro and his two companions weren't the only kids who earned money through turf battles this wasn't to be unexpected. Some of the fatter kids had to stick to less… damaging threat level Turf Battles whilst the slimmer, leaner and tougher Kids usually went for the higher ones, yet despite the number of kids participating in these fights, which numbered at above 30, they were still one of the lesser ranked Orphanages in the Village. Not to mention that they all had different weaponry on their person, decently maintained for weapons belonging to them honestly, though if one compared them to weapons given to those of the more well-off Orphanages, then they'd be considered nothing but complete garbage.

"Move it."

Still, he had no desire to entertain their games and made to push past them, intending to get on with his own business. He should have figured it out though, but when he tried to the other kids rebounded him backwards, causing him to stumble back a few steps but not fall like they had wanted. A kid tried to trip him up from behind, but Shiro had noticed and reacted first, flipping backwards to avoid his foot then performed a perfect split kick, jamming his foot into the kid's face and knocking him down. "#SIGH# seems like the usual gag's started then, eh?" the male mused after rolling backwards and standing up straight. He rolled his right shoulder a full 360 degrees a few times, eyeing each of them with a neutral expression. His distain for them aside, Shiro had plenty of experiences with these lot, so he could always tell what it was that they intended for him, sort of like seeing their true nature and easily seeing through any of their lies/deceptions.

Only added another thing to the list of petty reasons to despise him.

"Why you little brat!" Yelled one of the kids, a burly looking one who wielded a sledgehammer, although Shiro did note the hypocrisy in calling him a brat considering how they were all of similar ages. However, the white-haired boy didn't mention it since past experiences told him they wouldn't have listened… or cared for that matter. "You should be grateful that we even bother to keep you around, you piece of garbage! Nobody here likes you, so accept your annual beatings like the lesser being that you are!" he declared, pointing a stubby finger towards him like he were looking down towards a cockroach just waiting to be squashed.

"Yeah… I'll just go with no."

"You have no choice in the matter, shitstain!"

After yelling that, the same burly kid unleashed a loud battle cry as he charged forwards, swinging his Sledgehammer towards Shiro with the intent of smashing his face into a bloody pulp. What, kids in this village, especially Orphans, had been exposed to plenty of violence already so it shouldn't be TOO surprising that they would swear, threaten and even kill right? They aren't too different from adults in that respect, this lifestyle forced children to grow up fast, should they want to survive.

However, the same could be said for Shiro as his eyes narrowed lightly as his instincts shifted from standby mode to battle mode, his form crouching slightly as he spread his legs out so they resembled a toad's stance whilst his arms were thrown to the side. Just as the Sledgehammer was swung towards his head, Shiro quickly tilted his body downwards and rolled to the side, avoiding the blow whilst drawing his sword as he got to his feet, intending to jump forwards and cut into the other kid's legs to immobilise him. If the circumstances allowed it, Shiro would have killed him no problem, however since the Orphanage they stayed in didn't have much money compared to others of its kind they needed as much muscle as they could to rake in the money… this would be HIS contribution to Jamal's overall dream, since killing them and inadvertently weakening the Orphanage didn't sound like something that would help him out.

Just as he made to jump though, he had to quickly raise his sword so the blade was angled downwards with its tip pointing to the left, blocking a diagonal slash from a similar sword that had been striking downwards at the opposite angle, a brief flash of sparks being born from the collision of the two weapons. The one responsible for the attack, another kid who looked a bit slimmer than the sledgehammer user, growled as the blade he used got sent downwards away from its intended target, allowing Shiro to smack him in the side of the head with his sword's pommel. This ended up dazing the fool, allowing the white haired boy to crouch low into a sweep kick that knocked him off his feet before shifting into a prone position and rolling across the ground to avoid a two-handed axe strike from a rather… muscular lad, like someone who spent all their time lifting heavy objects.

Getting up from this, Shiro continued the fighting with the intent to knock them all out in spite of his instincts screaming at him to do… something else.

All the while, the watchful eyes of the figure kept their vigilance from behind one of the Orphanage's corners.

* * *

It turned out to be about late morning, so around 10 to 11 or so, when the fighting ceased with Shiro claiming the victor's position, and everyone else sprawled out on the ground around him. Each of them had varying levels of injuries done to them on their person, however none of them were particularly life threatening, something which Shiro took personal pride in as evident by the slight upturning of his lips as he wiped a trail of blood that had fallen from the corner of his mouth. 'Heh, those idiots… thinking they could take me down with something as minor as numbers on their side…' he thought, more than a little cocky with his victory, as well as a small bit of sadistic pleasure blossoming like a flower in the spring within his torso…

Despite the state he had been reduced to, something which Shiro had already taken notice of.

The thing was, considering how he had taken a bit of a beating himself thanks to some pot and cheap shots taken against him, anything usually goes in fights like these as long as victory was obtained in the end, Shiro couldn't say that he could go a full 100% today without some rest. After all, rest was widely considered something which would come only in rare instances within THIS particular village.

To him, he had learned how good it felt to kill one's opponents whenever they annoyed you or caused you some manner of harm, bodily or spiritually. It felt good, REALLY good, and to him, that seemed like a simple part of the true primitive nature that lay dormant within all human beings. It had been an opinion he had gained since a few years ago when he had his first kill, a bunch of thieves who had tried to rob him of his hard-earned money one afternoon.

It had then turned into one big, insanity-filled struggle for survival at that point, and whilst his memories of the event had become hazy and stained with blood, he still remembered the feelings that he had felt that time: wild bloodlust, a maddening frenzy, a strong… 'desire' for 'battle'. It had been such a wild rush, such a frenzied mass of emotions tainted by the bloodstained blade he wielded as he cut down those who tried to take from him what they felt belonged to them, when in reality that was hardly the case at all.

Then, before he knew it… it had all ended, with him having killed over 5 grown ass adults with just his sword.

At the time, Shiro hadn't thought of it very much, but afterwards one question had bugged him, a question which he largely ignored even now:

What did this make him?

What was he truly?

What would he become now that he had been forced by life to set upon this bloody path?

Shiro didn't know, nor did he care to know. To him, all he cared for was to survive, with his companions being second priority to that… well, he said secondary, but in reality Shiro didn't think he had it in him to abandon those two, especially with how Jamal had convinced him to help with his Dream. They had stuck by him even under threat of being discriminated against by the other children at the Orphanage, and if there was any lesson that he had taken to heart aside from the brutal ones about the cold nature reality had, it would be that owing debts to people wasn't inheritably wrong, but not paying them back was. As such, he would make sure he can help his companions in arms with Jamal's Dream, as a means of repaying the debt of loyalty that he owed them.

A debt that he would likely never repay by just sitting around here, he figured after a few moments, so to that end Shiro got his breathing back in order and proceeded to head out into the town to get started with his day…

"May we speak…?"

"?!"

All of a sudden, a young masculine voice, softer than a feather as if trying to appear unassuming and fragile, spoke from behind the young boy, causing his eyes to shoot open wide. Not only had he not heard such a voice before, but he also didn't even realize someone had gotten so close to him, which resulted in the boy internally scolding himself. 'Idiot, how could you let this happen?! Someone, an adult no less judging by his mature voice, snuck up on you when you were defenceless! If that guy hadn't foolishly exposed himself like this, you could have lost your head before you could repay your debt!' his brain screamed and berated against him mentally, like a professor scolding his student for bad behaviour. Part of him also realized that if it were anyone else then he perhaps could have been looking death's door in the eye, not his FIRST life-or-death experience but still.

Quickly spurning himself into action, Shiro twirled around with his body quickly adopting his signature sword stance: his legs spread open wide and his hands both gripping his sword's handle, angling the blade downwards towards the ground in front of him. His upper body's right shoulder faced his potential adversary as he eyed said being, finding him to be… a man, at least in his early 20's. A man whom, in any other circumstance, would have stolen the breath of any other mortal with how… effeminate he looked, to the point where one might be hard pressed to consider him a man at all. Though Shiro's honed gaze from his years growing up under the threat of his death at any means saw the minor signs of his masculine gender.

Still, that didn't mean he wasn't COMPLETELY unaffected by the appearance this man donned, as he had to mentally do a double take whilst checking out his appearance. Apparently, the man stood rather tall, for an adult, whilst being clad in robes similar to those of some sort of religion, and not one which Shiro had any knowledge of. Hell, Shiro only knew about religion due to overhearing some of the Villagers talking about them in passing, whilst this guy also had a sense of military leadership about him. A mix of the two, especially with the armour plating over his chest, shoulders, forearms, legs and feet, all whilst a slim-looking sword remained sheathed at the side of his waist. He also had a helmet laying next to him, not having placed it on to allow his effeminate facial features, such as his long flowing silvery white hair and alluring blue eyes to be seen by the younger boy.

'This guy…!'

The said boy did not let his guard down however, as he kept his sword at the ready, waiting for any signs of attack. As bewitching and enchanting as this guy presented himself to be, Shiro couldn't give much of a crap, as he growled ferociously like an animal, his instincts SCREAMING at him to be at the ready.

"Will you… lower your sword?"

Once he heard the man ask him that question in that low, soft sounding voice while looking at him with an… an unreadable expression so not even he could tell what the man was currently thinking, adding this sense of… mystery surrounding him, something within Shiro snapped. All restraint within him crumbled to pieces, letting the instincts of a beast inside of him take over as he unleashed a loud war cry, bursting into a sprint as he raised his sword for an overhead swing. He moved across the distance between them in only a second, blurring forth into one big mass of motion with the rage he felt inside fuelling his movements, supplying them, and by extension their owner, with the power he craved to take the head of this adult who DARED tell him to do that one thing. That one thing which he would NEVER do under any circumstance, for to him, the fact of lowering his sword meant that he would be surrendering his life to the one whom he lowered his sword to: an action that would spell death for ANYONE within this village.

SCHWING-CLANG!

When he got close enough to strike, Shiro swung his sword in a downward arc, the man twisted his left side so that it faced the space behind him whilst he held his sword in a downward angle with the guard covered angle over his features. The two lades met together in a mighty clash, with the shorter and smaller of the two sliding the latter blade downwards and away from its intended target.

'?! How did-?!'

Thoughts like this passed through the startled Shiro's mind, his instincts freezing into place from this experience for a short moment before he turned around to raise his sword and defend himself. Shame though, cause that momentary freezing turned out to be his undoing, for the man's sword was then swung and a thrust of the weapon allowed it to lodge itself STRAIGHT through Shiro's shoulder area, close to where his heart would have been but missing just slightly. The sheer force behind the strike, as well as the sound of metal meting flesh filled the air space between them for that one moment, and yet it seemed so loud that it almost resembled an explosion within Shiro's ears, the young lad being launched backwards to the ground behind him.

'He's… quick…'

Again, Shiro got the feeling that he had charged into a fruitless battle recklessly against an opponent that had outclassed him in every way possible.

Would he… expire here?

But… what of everything else…?

He still… had stuff he needed… to do…

Was he… Shiro… going to die… before he could repay his debt… to Jamal… and Brihanna?

Would he… expire… before he could… help swing… his sword for… their… sake?

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

… The last thing Shiro saw, or rather felt AND saw at the same time wasn't the way the man took off his helmet to showcase his effeminate features, nor the look in his eyes as he stared him down into his descent into oblivion…

It turned out to be the crimson hue that took over his vision, his vison becoming slanted like some sort of twisted, demonic lighting bolt's…

* * *

Running…

Running…

Running…

Panic, fear and terror filled his breath, his lungs burning in their desperate pleas for him to stop and rest himself. His legs moved constantly as his sword, clutched within his right hand to the point where he vaguely managed to make out the soft, liquid-like feeling of blood covering it due to how hard he gripped the blade's hilt (that feeling likely came from his own blood too), his arms moving alongside them as they burned within him like no tomorrow. However, he couldn't slow himself down in the slightest, not with the thing behind him chasing his frail, fragile self like a game of cat and mouse, the fear and all-consuming terror he felt inside wouldn't. He knew not what whatever chased him looked like, nor did he want to nor did he dare try to push past the fear to check, for whatever chased him down had been doing so for seemingly ages. Why it was chasing him, a simple child who'd done only what he'd needed to in order to survive he didn't know, perhaps this chase would continue on forever, a thought which sent an uncountable amount of shudders down his small spine as his legs moved like they had never moved before.

"#PANT#... #PANT#...#PANT#... #PANT#... #PANT#... #PANT#...!

He could hear it, the heavy breathing that escaped both his lips, as well as the towering monstrosity that chased him down behind him. The more he ran, the increasingly aware he became of the grim reality that his attempts to escape would only end up being futile, the reality of there being no chance for him to ever be free from this torment settling in as much as he tried to deny it. No matter what he could always feel its presence as if it were directly behind him, feeling its crimson breath which stunk of thick iron found only in the blood of others, he knew this for a fact upon the exact SECOND he had first smelled it in this mysterious, yet unending nightmare.

At this point… the truth for him finally sunk in like a chilling yet unavoidable dagger piercing straight through his very being:

There was truly no escaping it, especially with how everything around him had been nothing but this black, ominous void of pure darkness this whole time, nothing around him to indicate that he had even been moving at all, and finally no signs of life nor light being visible since he started running in the first place…

'... Huh…? Wait a moment… then…?'

Now that he thought about it, how long had that been? How long had he spend running from this inevitability? This fate that demanded to be met by him? He didn't know, nor could he think for much longer as the need for oxygen started to get to him allowing him to slow his movements bit by bit. That is, until he finally had no other choice BUT to stop as his body simply REFUSED to move any further until he had caught his breath, his form hunched over as he placed his hands on his knees even as one of them held his sword, onto his lap whilst he hung his head, gasping for breath like a baby newly born into this cruel, merciless and unforgiving world.

Gradually, as the realization of his futile attempt to flee settled in, his head slowly began to move on its own, changing the direction it faced slowly like an old, rusty robot towards the direction behind him no matter how much his brain tried to command it to stop. Not only this, but a morbid sense of curiosity also swayed control over his movements away from the thing which, by all counts of logic, SHOULD have retained its dominion over them from the beginning of his life to his eventual death, something he had long since been aware of growing up alongside the grim reaper like he had. By the time he looked behind him proper, finally he managed to see what had been chasing him all this time.

It was…

* * *

"Guh…!"

Eyes shot open and a small, but quick gasp of air escaped his lips like a prison break, as Shiro finally awoke from his slumber. The teen spent a few moments just calmly remaining spread across the ground, he realized, prone and seemingly covered in some sort of white cloth-a Blanket he soon realized- that concealed the majority of his form save for his head. As he started to calm himself down from that… experience he'd gone through, Shiro clutched the blanket covers with his right hand as he looked around, finding himself inside some sort of tent. He could tell due to the white cloth being sprung up, held in place by some wooden supports, not to mention that it looked just big enough to support a couple people not just a small child like him.

Still, none of this answered the biggest question in his mind:

Where the hell was he?

As that question floated within the depths of his consciousness, Shiro's brow furrowed into a scowl. If someone were to tell him that he would be waking up in an unknown tent today, then Shiro would not only have not believed him, he would have likely ran him through with his sword for wasting the time he COULD have used to gather money for the Orphanage. However, upon closer inspection of his surroundings, this fact became all the clearer for him, and THAT wasn't something which Shiro appreciated. Not. One. Bit.

'Shit… shit! SHIT! This must be…'

Closing his eyes to think back to where he had been before falling unconscious, as well as calm himself for the time being, Shiro winced when he felt a sharp sensation erupt from his shoulder, and when he did do, his eyes widened after throwing the covers off with his left hand to see his upper body bare to the world save for some bandages around his torso along with ones strapped diagonally over his shoulder. Memories of the 'fight' he had with that weird looking white-haired guy returned to him, playing within his brain like they were some sort of message, a testament to the following revelation:

That he had likely been captured by the enemy or something.

The thought nearly made him want to throw up in his mouth in sheer loathing and disgust, although Shiro held it in instead, using his… above average maturity to his advantage to calm his surging emotions and prevent himself from going into a full-blown panic attack. Shiro wasn't a stranger to what he was experiencing, in fact it wasn't uncommon for children like him to be captured by thieves and sold to other places as manual labour workers, child slavery actually was a non-surprising occurrence here.

In fact, a portion of the Village's workforce turned out to be young boys and girls, captured whilst on their patrols for their Orphanages and forced to work for others aside from their own brethren. 'Though, I never considered anyone in that damn shithole, other than THEM, as brethren anyways…' he thought, grimacing as he got to his feet and headed to the tent's flaps, drawn to the sounds of commotion outside like a moth to a flame. Perhaps he hadn't completely woken up yet, cause if he were, he would have been FAR more cautious of going outside unarmed and injured like he had been.

Though, two things he should have thought about before stood out about his situation:

One, he had only been treated for his injuries, not restrained in any way which wasn't the case for other kids in these situations.

Two, and MUCH more importantly… the way that there were various scratch marks on the space behind him where his head would have been back when he'd been asleep.

* * *

After exiting the Tent, Shiro felt like he expected only something akin to a slave camp filled with whimpering brats being whipped about by adult slavers or something…

But instead, what he saw was completely different.

Before his eyes, what could only be described as a gathering of adults spread itself out before them. It seemed as though the camp was located around a rather well-fortified courtyard, with there being sandbags over the walls and holes to allow the inhabitants to peep outside for any trespassers. Furthermore, there seemed to be some guards patrolling the outskirts of the camp, although Shiro couldn't see many pedestrians around which made him wonder if this place scared them off with their presence. He would have snorted if that were the case, especially when he saw that the majority of the people in this camp were adults, most being barely in their 20's from the looks of them but considering his own age they might as well be full-on adults to him.

Each of them looked to be wearing some sort of uniform, one made to resemble a mix between robes and armour similar to that guy's outfit too. Not to mention they each wielded an assortment of dangerous weapons, something which made Shiro question on whether or not these guys were just typical thieves or… something else. Well, they did at LEAST look like they came from this village, so that had to mean something, so did that mean that they would shun him because of his appearance too? Probably…

'What the… what the hell is this…?' the male wondered, watching absolutely dumbstruck like a fish out of water, how everyone laughed and howled as they conversed with one another like they' known one another for their entire lives. Some looked to be bathing by washing themselves off in wooden water tubs, whilst others looked to be practice sparring with one another, something which drew his attention quite quickly since out of all the stuff he'd seen, THIS was the most familiar to him. The way their weapons clashed, the way that sparks flew…

Wait, his sword!

TAP-TAP-TAP!

The sound of footsteps reached his ears just as Shiro started to panic when he realized that for the first time in a long while, his weapon had not been on his person since he'd woken up. Part of him cursed himself for forgetting such an important piece of equipment to his survival whilst he looked to the source of the footsteps. Low and behold, the same man who had defeated him so soundly (much to Shiro's humiliation) stood there before him, holding Shiro's precious sword.

What was his goal, here…?

"I am Griffith, what's your name…?"

"… Shiro."

Whilst the boy wondered what this man was intending for him, instead of responding to his introduction Griffith he'd his prized possession out in front of him, looking down to inspect it with an affectionate gaze. "This sword is an excellent one, it is quite well made, and it suits someone like you perfectly. I'm afraid I, on the other hand, have no ability to truly wield it." He explained, completely pulling a 180 on Shiro's expectations with how… soft, his features had suddenly became, like the persona he had seen of him beforehand had never even existed in the first place. The way his eyes beamed with an almost child-like innocence, the way he smiled so brightly that it rivalled the large hot thing in the skies above them, it al took him by surprise as he silently offered his sword back to him.

As he took it back into his waiting hands (mentally sighing and unintentionally allowing his body to relax, now that the comfort of having his sword was back), the effeminate looking man known as Griffith turned his back to walk somewhere, potentially leaving his back open to a strike from behind although Shiro felt in his gut that wouldn't work out too well for him. "Would you accompany me…?" he asked, but to Shiro it felt more like an order.

Knowing this guy outclassed him in swordplay at the moment, Shiro quietly complied, although he definitely wouldn't miss the chance to have a rematch with this guy in the future.

Still, as he walked off after him, Shiro couldn't help but notice the way the guy walked, something about it felt… off, like he were trying to conceal something. An injury perhaps? Shiro wasn't sure, but he didn't care enough to ask.

After all, why would he care for someone who humiliated him like that?

* * *

"Pshaw, what the heck is Griffith thinking? Bringing a brat like that to our Camp…"

"Maybe he's trying to make an ally?"

"?!"

"You DO know that the captain did suffer an injury to his person by that kid, remember? He came with several wounds to his person that he said the kid had and judging by how his posture is right now I'd say there's some credibility to that story."

KICK!

"Quit sproutin' that shit, Rickert! That brat's got nothing next to us adults, he wouldn't be able to kill a damn beansprout compared to the guys we face on a daily basis. Right Pippin?"

"…"

* * *

'If looks could kill…'

Shiro would have been an idiot if he hadn't noticed the unfriendly stares directed at him, especially with how he holstered his sword onto his back and held his arms in a crossed position under his chest like he were letting down his guard. The way that the majority of the camp attendees stared at him looked a lot like the ones which he'd seen aimed at him from the kids back at the Orphanage. However, there was something… different, off he could say, about these ones. Back with the children he'd seen them as a source of arrogance, of false pride and superiority since they acted like that despite not being as good as him with a weapon. Well, to be fair whenever fights broke out between them the staff members would step in, then believe their story over his (even if the evidence contradicted this) and they'd pull mocking faces at him when the staff members weren't looking. Kids weren't the only ones who bullied him because of his appearance, after all.

Whelp, perhaps he could ask? No point in not trying after all, Jamal would have said.

"… So who are these guys? With their evil gazes…"

"…We are the band of the hawk."

"?!"

"You know of us?"

Shiro scowled after his momentary shock when he had heard that name be uttered from Griffith's lips. How could he have NOT known about that name, the Band of the Hawk were QUITE infamous in this village. Little was actually known about their true origins, as they came into being only recently, about 5 years ago or so. However, that didn't mean that they didn't have their own reputation by this point, no sir. Not only did they start off as a band of petty thieves who stole and sold children from Orphanages as slaves to various 'interested parties' before becoming a full-fledged fighting force ain to a Mercenary group, but they too sent representatives to fight in Turf Battles against them.

One could say that they were similar to a mobile Orphanage themselves, or even a mercenary group with how they act.

Despite them looking like they were full of young adults not that much younger than their leader, the Band of the Hawk were considered by the Village Elders as a 'player' in this 'game of survival' against the other Orphanages, their leader obviously being this Griffith guy Shiro had only paid a little attention to the rumours spread about them, but they definitely had earned the reputation that they had, for whenever their reps returned to their ranks they usually held hugs sacks of money, won through the highest threat level battles. Furthermore, people WIDELY feared meeting these guys on the battlefield due to not only the fierce fighting strength behind their members, but also because of the cold, often emotionless detachment that their Leader portrayed as he systematically butchered his opponents with an almost inhuman grace to him.

This information made him wonder though: Just HOW the hell did he attract this group's notice anyways?

* * *

"Ahhhhhh, this hits the spot...!"

Finally, after walking for a short while Shiro and Griffith stood atop a large, open area. One could have called it some sort of training ground considering all the equipment lying around the areas' edges. It looked pretty obvious that Griffith had wanted them to be in some sort of open space, which only added to the young boy's suspicions about his motives. For someone who led a former band of child traffickers, there seemed to be some 'oddities' about him since he didn't treat Shiro like any normal child trafficker did with their 'wares'. It made him all the more cautious, especially if he were to be forced to fight his way out, which Shiro doubted he would be able to survive for much longer afterwards, especially within this den of ferocious wolves.

**(Play Berserk OST - Guts)**

Finally, as Griffith stretched his arms up after taking a large breath of the air, probably not liking too tight spaces very much (something which, reluctantly, Shiro mentally admitted he agreed with this person on), Shiro decided now would be the time to get some answers out of him. "Why?" he began, getting the older man's attention. "Why did you miss my heart on purpose back there? For someone like you, simply killing a defenceless child shouldn't be too major a concern."

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"... Because I realized the potential within you, and I WANT that potential, Shiro." Griffith finally answered with his hair swaying slightly in the ensuing gust of wind. It also caused his clothes to flutter in the same direction, alongside Shiro's own ragged robes whilst if his hair had been as long as the older man's. it wouldn't have looked akin to rustled grass. Still, Shiro's surprised expression caused Griffith to elaborate on his point. "We were also there overlooking that Turf Battle yesterday, allowing us the fortune of witnessing your fight with that other child. What you did in that battle impressed me... but it was also very dangerous. Despite that battle not being too high on the threat level, there was still a chance that those rich kids would have not only pulled a fast one on you, but that big one had the strength to kill you with that weapon if you got hit in the right spot by it."

"...Probably."

Yeah, Shiro couldn't argue with him there. The whole thing about 'treat levels' in Turf Battles had been decided by a group of old geezers who didn't know what fighting was actually like, hence even though their system SHOULD have been effective, there were cases where death occurred beyond the scope of the high tier Threat Levels in Turf Battles. It had been something Shiro had become well aware of, since it DID concern his own life, but to him it didn't seem like too big of a deal, not in his mind at least.

"... You're honest." Griffith remarked, slightly smiling whilst a little chuckle escaped his lips. His gaze then peered downwards towards the boy's abdomen, the gaze slowly changing into a more... melancholic one, perhaps even remorseful as his hair still fluttered in the wind, though towards Shiro this time. "That fighting style you use...although self-taught and could be improved, its a style that incorporates one core aspect: that you gamble with your very life on the line."

"?!"

Once again, Shiro lightly gasped when he heard those words come out of this man's lips. Nobody, not even his childhood friends ever noticed that part of his fighting style, though by no means did he blame them. They DID usually fight separately, plus he felt like they perhaps had their suspicions about it but they never really confirmed it with him. Still, for this guy who he considered a stranger to notice that... well, it caught him off guard a little. Regardless, Griffith turned around, facing away from him yet still continuing his speech. "You don't budge an inch against people who try to oppress you, instead you just charge on forward sword swinging, regardless of your situation. Some would call that reckless, even suicidal, but at the same time it seems as though while you gamble with your life you are also struggling to make it out alive, like something greater is forcing you to live on. That's how I see it at least."

Shiro stared as Griffith said all this, utterly speechless despite the scowl on his features as he stopped himself from succumbing to the urge to just swing his sword right now and cut Griffith down for... well, for lack of a better word 'exposing' him. He couldn't hep it, the more that he spoke, the more Shiro felt like the chains, things which he used as locks to hide away everything he felt inside, were being forcibly unravelled, laying everything out flat and bare for all to see. He didn't like this feeling, having never felt it before and thus didn't know what else to do with this 'threat' against his internal defences. Even though his mind reasoned that Griffith's skill with a blade far surpassed his own, the sheer NEED to do so in order to keep his internal conflicts to himself pretty much demanded him to take action, resulting in this conflicted feeling arising within his chest, like two armies were charging into one another like some sort of ancient medieval battle in the past.

'Should I...? Or should I not...?'

After a moment of contemplative silence between them, Shiro saw Griffith look up at him once again, his face that of a smiling innocent child who found a new, intriguing toy to play with. "You're interesting, and I decided that I've taken a liking to you." he stated, though the following statement pretty much sent the entire conflict within Shiro into a screeching halt.

"I want you... Shiro."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 - The Band of the Hawk**

Some say that "If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath." Basically if one wanted to calm themselves down when they're struggling with life choices, they would have to 'live in the present' by not thinking so much about the past or future. He had heard of this saying once from one of the adults in the village, although he didn't bother to learn any specifics about him. Still, this quote indeed drew him in for some reason, but whatever that reason was he didn't really care. All he cared about was him 'living in the now' had gradually turned into a rule of survival, a means of helping him keep his head on straight and his toes firmly planted in the ground. Perhaps if he hadn't adopted that rule as one of his few for surviving in this harsh village, then maybe he would have perished long ago, despite the help his two friends had offered.

Though, right now as he stood atop a crate eyeing his first target as part of a bigger group of men in leather armour who occasionally sneaked discreet yet disdainful glances towards him (mostly his hair and skin colour, he'd noticed), Shiro began to wonder if he had deviated from this course of life a little bit. If he had, there hadn't been much he could have done at the time, given the circumstances, but right now he had to trust that rule once again, adding yet another tally upon an already large chart of tallies.

Currently, Shiro stood outside the ranks of the Band of the Hawk yet still within their camp, having been made to join them in their little circle as they planned out their next big 'heist' as it were. As it were, Shiro leaned on the back of a wooden support whilst the rest discussed the plan, arms crossed and a brooding aura around him, though considering what he had recently gone through it came to no surprise. Still, the fact that this guy had let him join their next mission turned out to be quite the surprise for Shiro, becoming one of many confusing opinions about that guy.

First of all, back when he had asked him to join the guy's group as one of his subordinates, Shiro had been quite literally gobsmacked, gaping at him whilst his eyes had screamed the words 'are you serious?!' to the ever smiling Griffith. Of course, this hadn't lasted long before he'd utterly refused the notion, claiming that he had lost his marbles for hiring an obvious kid for something which he wasn't supposed to. He just couldn't get what the guy had been thinking, but Griffith had been a stubborn guy, claiming that he wanted him as part of the Band of the Hawk.

Eventually, it had reached a point where Shiro demanded that they fight it out, and if he were to win not only would he be allowed to leave this place but he would also get the chance to take Griffith's life. Not something the other members of his group seemed to favour judging by the murderous glares that were sent his way by them, but contrary to his expectations Griffith had agreed. All too eagerly, if he had anything to say about it… although Shiro would end up being disappointed yet again when Griffith soundly defeated him without much effort, making use of him being a full-grown adult and him a child who hadn't yet even entered his preteens.

Thus, he had only one option, to be indoctrinated within the Band of the Hawk.

Thus, it led up to this situation which took place the following morning after some of the goons belonging to this group of thieves had decided it would be good to 'break him in'. Well, that's what he had heard when he'd woken up, but apparently they got into a scuffle with something since, all around him, Shiro had noticed that there were claw-like markings scattered around, something which honestly gave him a heart attack when he'd first seen them.

According to Griffith, they had been hired by one of the larger Orphanages to target another one's supply area, most likely some sort of rival or something, in order to get more recognition by the Elder council Shiro figured. The usage of thieves like this apparently was something that the bigger and stronger Orphanages did in order to get ahead of their adversaries, something which seemed utterly revolting to Shiro though he didn't think much on it afterwards, since this was just part of how the Village had been run.

"The enemy's main force is on a hill outside the village, about 2000 strong. The enemy believes that nobody will risk exiting the village borders to find their supplies, which will be their downfall, for that is where we will be holding our heist. Our job will be to raid the enemy forces present there, and set fire to their supplies, then make it back into the Village. We shall take a roundabout route through the forest itself and ambush them from behind under the cover of darkness. Guards shall be bribed to stay silent, so we don't have to worry about official persecution. We will commence the operation at sunset, so use this time to familiarize yourself with the plan, we will hold a last-minute briefing before the operation's start for any questions raised." Griffith declared all of this whilst making a drawing on the ground with the tip of his drawn sword.

* * *

By the time sunset neared, a last-minute briefing got held by the Band of the Hawk, with a list of questions prepared for their leader.

One such soldier raised a hand and asked a question to the white haired man. "Who's our support?" he asked, hoping that they would have more support than just political cover from their Orphanage client.

Though, in the next few seconds those hopes got dashed. Griffith, after closing his eyes and answering calmly, had been the one to crush those said hopes. "There is none, I was told that there's no might to spare for a night strike on the enemy."

"Ptfh what a bunch of cowards."

"They can't even spare one soilder to help us."

"They're probably too scared or afraid to even come."

Multiple different comments came from various soldiers, though judging by the expressions on the rest of them that had stayed silent, each of them had similar thoughts. Something which Shiro couldn't help but notice, as well as notice just how little they truly seemed to care about this situation. Like, just being by their leader alone would be enough for them, something which perplexed the lad. 'These guys…...they've got so much confidence in Griffith.'

Meanwhile, said man had been asked about their rear guard, something which would likely be a crucial role if not a suicidal one given the scale of the operation. After a moment's worth of thinking, Griffith's eyes fell onto Shiro's form, and a slight upturning of his lips formed. "The rear guard will be…. Shiro, you'll see to it."

Hearing this caused the said lad to blink a couple times like an owl, his jaw becoming 'o' shaped at the sudden declaration. "Huh?"

"Eh? the newbie?"

"Guess he had it coming."

"I know right?"

Yet, as he became stunned at the fact that he'd been given this role, several of the other soldiers expressed their contempt for the young boy, whilst the rest of them didn't verbally admit their agreement. They didn't need to since their eyes pretty much told Shiro everything, similar to an expression that he'd once heard from those kids who'd bully him: the eyes were the windows to the soul, he thought it went.

Yet, Griffith held none of that contempt as his gaze locked onto that of the small boy's with an even, calm one. "It will be a tough job, Shiro. You have to keep the enemy busy and protect the escape of your allies. It's a direct forest road but you'll still have to keep perhaps several hundred horsemen at bay while fleeing. This is a high risk of death." the man explained, although Shiro didn't make any verbal response, just stared him down.

"..."

"Are you up for the task, Shiro?"

"... That was an order, wasn't it sir?"

"... It might be."

"... I'll do it."

In the end, Shiro decided to do it. Since he had been indoctrinated into this crew against his will, he had no choice but to go along with this plan. Not to mention that should he succeed, perhaps he would get a chance to reunite with his companions back in his home orphanage, although Shiro almost gagged when he had to call that hellhole a 'home'. To him, home was where those who cherished him were, that had been something which he had learned shortly after befriending his two childhood friends. Therefore, anywhere could be considered home if they were there as part of it.

That, and at least this way he would be able to get away from that stupid, childish smile which Griffith had aimed in his direction. It almost disgusted him about how he could smile like that, especially since the last time he'd seen it was when they had fought for the second time and he casually just broke his arm.

"Thank you Shiro, now everyone gear up, it's time we settle this."

As soon as Griffith said that, things began to happen. First, everyone started to put on their helmets, since they likely will get bombarded by ranged attacks. Oh yeah, since this village's economy made it so that they couldn't afford to make firearms like automatic rifles and the like, they had to go with more… primitive means, like crossbows, plate armour etc. It had also been one of the Village's many traditions, somewhat making it look like the village was still in the medieval period. Second, they had set about drawing their weapons and preparing for the fight of their lives.

Thus, the departing, and the first ever battle Shiro would face on a grander scale, began.

* * *

Moments later, the Band of the Hawk proceeded to leave the village through the specified gate, confirming Griffith;s words when the guards had paid them zero mind. Currently, they have to walk through a big river to make sure that they didn't make that much noise with their horses, so that way they wouldn't get spotted by the enemy.

'Ugh, this river is more like an ocean…. I'll bet that the enemy doesn't think that anyone would launch a sneak attack from a swift current like this one. They're too busy lording over the fact that Orphanages wouldn't think that supplies would be coming out of the Village. But, one good thing is that it does hide the sounds of our combined movement. If we're attacking from the rear, we'll be dropping fire on them from withdrawal to boot. Just how did Griffith get a plan like this to be taken into account?' Shiro wondered from the back of the group. Not to mention that this was his first time riding on a horse, and so far he felt like he wasn't doing too terribly on it. For some reason the horse itself, although some men had said it to be one of their more troublesome ones, behaved quite well around him. It had even unnerved some of the men with previous experience with said horse, making them wonder how the kid had managed to tame it.

As Shriou was thinking mentally about how Griffith managed to get a hold of this plan, he snapped out of those musings when he heard one of the soldiers(a girl) quickly put a hand up, a hushed whisper escaping her lips that every other soldier in the group had picked up. Apparently, she had spotted a soldier holding two buckets kneeling before the stream with a bored look on his face, which made everyone assume that he must've come here for the water. They stopped as she took out her knife from her thigh's holsters, held it up and then threw it with excellent accuracy in Shiros' eyes, into the unexpecting soldier.

SCHULUCK!

"?!"

The knife hit its mark, entering the guy's neck deep enough to bury it's entire blade into him. As a result, the soldier's face twisted into one of surprise as his last expression on this world, before he then promptly died quickly, falling onto his side.

'...Damn this girl has some skills, I'll give her that.'

Shiro formed a surprised face when he saw her throwing the knife with such an excellent aim. For an adult, she had good skills, it made him wonder what she had been like as a young girl. Now that there weren't any guards or patrols they needed to watch out for, the Band of the Hawk got onto land finally, as Griffith got in first before speaking.

"We are almost to the Camp, everyone. be prepared."

* * *

Meanwhile…

Deeper within the forest, the Camp could be seen, lit up by lanterns and the like. It looked to be chock full of tents, with many Guards and crates all loaded with different supplies meant for the Orphanage that this Camp had been made for. Under the cover of darkness, none of these Camp residents held the belief that they would ever be noticed nor attacked by anyone from rival factions due to how far removed this Camp was…

Which would be their undoing.

One soldier near the rear borders, yawned with a dismayed grunt escaping him, moaned in annoyance with the fact that he had the unluckiest job there was in this place….. sentry duty in the night. Like there wasn't ANYTHING more life threatening out there waiting for him. "brrrr cold! What a crummy night to be in sentry duty at this time. I swear Not even any wolves are on a night like this." he moaned for the upteenth time this night, looking like he would be falling asleep at any moment. He was about to go to sleep as he then looked at something in the forest that caught his attention.

"Hmm? what's that….?" He wondered, now completely awake as he placed his free hand over his brow as if blocking light from his eyes to get a better look. In the distance, he could see what looked to be many orbs of golden light, bobbing up and down through the forest, causing a wave of confusion to overcome him. "Are those…. lights?"

The more he looked at the lights, the more puzzled that he became. Each of them moved closer and closer, which slowly started to worry him, before he had a clear view of the lights' sources. His eyes widened in horror when the impossible, to him, occurred when he realized that the lights weren't actually lights, but rather men and women in armour on horseback. Each of them looking quite armed too, already clueing him in to their purpose.

"Huh?! Enemies!"

As a result of seeing this, the soldier quickly called out to the rest of his comrades as loud as he could. However, this would turn out to be a pointless endeavor, for not a second later did Griffith and his men charge forth on their horses like a stampede of raging bulls, slicing through that Guard and reducing him into multiple chunks of body parts on the ground that would in the near future be some nicely prepared food for the ever hungry vultures who'd come by, dawn to the smell of a load of deceased.

But back to the battle that ensued…

It would become the first true taste of conflict that Shiro had ever tasted in his short life, for in seconds the entire camp practically lit up in response to the charge that Griffith had launched. The smell of iron began to tickle at his nostrils in much greater quantities than he had been used to, as a kid who fought in semi-official matches against older kids and sometimes adults for cash for his Orphanage. Security began to fight back against them whilst the rest of the guards, who had been resting all snugly within their quarters thinking that they had been safe, awoke to the sounds of combat, screams and metallic clashing which would have not been possible in their eyes. Some didn't even get a chance to wake up at all, for stray arrows and other projectiles would come flying through their tent flaps and kill them in their sleep.

Sounds of horses galloping would constantly fill his ears as Shiro, clad on his horse, rode with the adults and tossed out the torches that they had at various supplies, lighting them up and ensuring their destruction by the night's end. Some of the targets had been gunpowder, so when him and the rest of the riding soldiers had been able to set them alight massive explosions would follow that'd destroy tents and kill the defending troops by torching them, reducing their bodies to charred remains within seconds. If they didn't get blown to bits by the explosions though.

One such explosion nearly knocked Shiro off his horse, but he managed to retain his grip on the reins and ride on… though, out of the corner of his vision the boy thought he'd seen something move backwards into him, but soon thought little of it afterwards since there were more important things to focus on.

"Disregard the enemy! Break through in one go!"

Breaking out of his thoughts, Shiro glanced forwards as A call came out from Griffith who glanced behind him at his men, seeing that their riding had started to slow the deeper they had gotten into the camp. Yet, with that one order, all the men under his command began to increase their speed as they continued to charge through the growing soldier ranks. None of them had encountered the bulk of the infantry stationed here though, and if they did then they likely would have gotten wiped out since they didn't number even close enough to the amount needed to face them.

Hence, each of the soldiers quickly rode like the wind through the enemy lines which had been hurriedly assembled to halt their progress, each of the men and Griffith slicing and dicing their way through and immersing themselves in the dying cries of their enemies, their blades hacking their way through their flesh like they were going through tender meat. To the enemies, they looked less like actual humans riding horses and more like demons riding out of hell, eager to claim their souls and drag them down to the depths of crimson purgatory.

"Ride, double file! Now, let us escape!"

After seeing that they had pretty much destroyed all of the Camp's supplies, Griffith went and issued that order as the Band of the Hawk reorganized it's charge in order for them to begin their escape out into the forest.

* * *

Back in the Camp's centre…

"Sir!"

A soldier jogged up to a larger man in full plate armour, standing beside two men in similar getups who seemed to have the role of bodyguards. Although considering that the man hadn't done much to stop the Band of the Hawk, not like he could though, some of the men would have given him dirty looks had it not been for the man's tendency to execute those who didn't follow his orders. As the soldier stopped before the large man, he lowered his head and delivered his report. "It's a disaster, sir! All around the camp, our provisions and gunpowder reserves are burning!"

"I can SEE that, you idiot!" The man, obviously the one in charge of this camp, barked back resulting in the footsoldier quivering in fear before him. As such, the man growled under his breath in both confusion and frustration, glancing at the destruction before him. This attack had come literally out of nowhere, pretty much catching them with their pants down if one wanted to be vulgar about it. Whilst he wanted to know how the fuck this camp's location had gotten out to their enemies, but it had and as such they needed to get as many supplies as they could out of here. "Gather the remaining supplies and get them out of here!" The man barked.

However, the soldier had even more bad news to share. "But sir, the strong winds carried the fire further than we anticipated. If we're not careful, a tailwind will spread it to the mens' tents…!"

"Grk! Tch, that's it then! Men! Assemble the Cavalry! If we let a bunch of goddamn, flea-bitten lowly THIEVES do this to us, then our reputation will go down the drain! The shame will make you all commit suicide as penance!" The commander barked, and whilst some questioned his words in their minds, none of the soldiers dared speak up due to both the situation as well as the fear that they had of him.

* * *

GALLOP, GALLOP, GALLOP, GALLOP!

The Band of the Hawk, their mission completed, hastily retreated back through the forest along a dirt-covered path. Their horses hooves constantly stomped away against the gravel whilst they galloped, resulting in sounds similar to a stampede filling everyone's ears. Although, none of them had any illusions of this being over, oh no, what had happened before with the whole raid had been the easy part in everyone's mind, since it had been a plan thought up by Griffith of all people. That was just the extent of how much faith every soldier under him had in his ability. THIS here however would be the hard part, not to mention the most heart-pounding: getting back to the Village in time to lose the whole infantry garrison that would surely be chasing them down.

Furthermore, there likely would be a detachment of troops to be sent out after them, so they had to leg it as much as they could to get the biggest head start possible, that way they would be able to use their own knowledge of the backstreets and the hidden alleyways to lose them. The horses weren't expendable, but they would be picked up and brought back to the relevant parties, according to Griffith anyways, so nobody worried about the said creatures.

Meanwhile, Shiro just couldn't help but marvel at how well this operation had been pulled off, not to mention the way these adults acted without hesitation and had competent coordination with one another. Most of the adults and pretty much ALL of the children he'd fought against didn't have NEARLY as much as these guys, not to mention there didn't seem to be any sort of hierarchy in the group aside from Griffith being the Leader. Of course, Shiro bet there was some sort of official structure to this whole group, but in the end he doubted that anyone even minded considering what he'd seen today. 'Seriously… never managed to witness a sneak attack that quick before…'

GALLOP, GALLOP, GALLOP, GALLOP, GALLOP, GALLOP, GALLOP, GALLOP, GALLOP!

"?!"

Whilst he was thinking about this, Shiro's eyes widened behind his helmet when he heard the sounds of galloping… but not the ones coming from their horses. They came from behind him, so with a quick turn of his head Shiro glanced to their rear and found… a BUNCH of men in full plate armour, riding on horseback whilst being armed with swords and shields. Each of them had furious, if not downright murderous gazes like a pack of wild wolves on the hunt… and they were the prey.

However, Shiro just snorted as he reached back, grasping his sword as he proceeded to slow himself down and break off from the rest. Just like Griffith had mentioned before, since he was the rear guard, Shiro's task would be to delay the enemy from reaching them and catching the Thieves before they could escape back to the village. Not to mention that, as he viewed the rapidly approaching cavalry, gripping his blade with the odds stacked against him with the impending threat of fighting enemies beyond his size, it felt quite… familiar to him. Not to mention, Shiro felt a surge of… hunger…

Hunger for carnage...

Hunger for Bloodshed...

Hunger for warfare...

Hunger for slaughter…

'Well then… let me show these fuckers, why when you attack one wolf, you get the PACK!'

* * *

The galloping of horse hooves began to slow down as Griffith, along with the front lines of his men, returned to the Village, the gates opening up as if to welcome them back as war heroes from an epic journey although each of them didn't fool themselves into thinking of them as such. Though, this also didn't let the big grins on each of their faces diminish any since the revelations of their recent victory had been all too real, proven by the stains of blood on their armour plates along with the exhaustion running through them like blood in the bloodstream.

"Man, now THAT was a blast!"

"Yup, even though we had a full plan, my heart skipped a beat a few times!"

"Shit, we managed to give one of those big shots the middle finger! I'm so going to get laid tonight!

Things like these got heard throughout the Band of the Hawk, although they were said in hushed manners so as to not disturb the overall atmosphere they had generated. The sense of achievement could really be felt by them, since they had originally been nothing but petty thieves who stole just enough for their own daily needs. They would have been nothing but specs on the road if it hadn't been for their leader, who'd fell down into their lives like an angel descending from heaven itself.

Of course, they didn't expect to be greeted as such, since they were thieves and all instead of heroic knights valiantly fighting for their country. If anything only their cold, harsh reality would be waiting for them, but for now that was fine, since in the end, things would start looking up for them in the near future, as long as they would follow their leader to the very end. That thought process had been something which the men under Griffith's leadership had thought time and time again, with this one being no different from the others.

Once they all had gone and trotted through the village gate, Griffith who had been the sole nonchalant person in the group like what had happened didn't affect him at all, glanced around at the various hushly celebrating soldiers. His eyes shone like those of the namesake of his group, almost like they had been looking for something important, all before his powerful voice broke them out of their musings. "Our casualties?"

Another soldier, one who looked quite large for a thief whilst making people wonder how his horse had been able to carry him, responded to him. "Very little, minor injuries but nothing a bit of treatment and some rest won't fix. Thanks to our new rear guard, we were able to limit the casualties to that much." he explained with a blank undertone, although there were hints of amazement and respect for a certain someone starting to shine through.

"Where's Shiro?"

Upon Griffith asking this, a flash of brief surprise crossed through the entire group before each of the soldiers looked around, wondering why Griffith had asked about the newest member of their ranks. That allowed them to clue in to the fact that Shiro wasn't with them at the moment, like he had never been there in the first place. One soldier then came out with the following response, having seemingly been the only one who had any answers to the situation.

In the end though, that same large guy from before ended up answering him, gesturing to the gate behind him which had remained open, odds were that it'd only close for when they were gone back to their own hidey holes. "Back there. He told us to leave him behind whilst he took care of the enemy. Seems like he pulled it off, considering how low our casualties are." he explained, then noticed something flash behind Griffith's calm gaze. He didn't know what it was, but it did lead him into predicting what Griffith will do next.

Something which came true when the said man placed his helmet back on his head and began riding to the gate once more, signalling the large man and one other with a single gaze. "All men, return to base. Wait for when we return with our comrade, whether he be dead or alive." he ordered, much to everyone's shock and confusion. Yet, before any of them could have found their voices again in order to protest and question their leader's judgement, a rarity when it came to them and Griffith, the said leader had already begun riding back to the forest with his two chosen followers in tow.

* * *

It didn't take them nearly as long as the first time to get into the forest again, since they had simply re-traced their roots back to the one which the Band of the Hawk had used to flee from their enemy. Neither soldier had spoken to their leader and vice versa, with the two of them having seen the blank look on Griffith's face as he had rode slightly faster than they did. This allowed them to clue in on something which their leader must be feeling at the moment: urgency, there was something within this particular soldier, one Shiro, that resulted in Griffith seeing it as urgent enough to go back to the place which would likely be a warzone without his men, risking his own life in the process. Whatever that was, neither of the two knew…

But by the time that they had begun riding through the root however, it didn't take them long to start getting an idea.

The reason? Simple, because the deeper along the escape route they travelled, the more unnerved they became when they started seeing some… odd features gradually overtake the forest. Things such as scratch marks, splatters of blood, and the deeper they went the more gory things became since there were severed limbs scattered everywhere, some humans and others not (even a few heads could be seen hanging about on the trees, with expressions frozen into ones of horror and despair, much to the soldiers growing disturbance).

"Geez… looks like a goddamn masacre in here? You think the kid's going to be alright?"

"Not my place to say…?"

Still, despite their conflicting opinions regarding their leader's apparent faith in Shiro, the soldiers riding slightly behind him still couldn't help but question each other on what they might find here: either the corpse of their comrade in which case they would bury him like he had been an honorary member, or perhaps… something else. Something that they couldn't pinpoint the exact nature and identity of, and that alone sent shivers of dread down their spines. Shivers that returned on occasion whilst they rode deeper along the path, for as they got closer and closer to the camp, the more twisted and gory everything became with bone fragments littering the ground like some junkyard. They could even see body parts like muscles, torn flesh, eyeballs, teeth etc to the point where even GRIFFITH himself grew concerned enough for it to form slightly on his face.

By the time that they got to the camp, even though the two soldiers wished oh so desperately they didn't have to, they got treated to a sight that even sent Griffith into a state of pure shock, as evident by the widened eyes and the slightly open mouth that he sported…

For the entire camp just looked like it had been painted one simple colour: red.

Everything looked like it had been hacked to bits by some wild beast, with blood-covered weapons sticking out everywhere whilst body parts of corpses, some being left reasonably intact so they could be identified as guards for the former camp. Each face they had managed to see which hadn't been absolutely WRECKED looked exactly the same as one another: shock and horror, like something absolutely incomprehensible had been the last thing they had ever seen on this earth. Not to mention there were next to NO remains of the camo as they had remembered it, with no signs of fires or anything, it just looked like a herd of wild beasts had torn the place apart from the roots, and judging by the sight, they'd assume that there weren't any survivors left to tell the tale of what had led this place to this fate.

"Dear God…"

"Oh hell… is that kid still al… ah, there!"

For the first time, the large man pointed his weapon with a slightly alarmed voice: a simple black spiked mace, towards the centre of the camp, which could be seen much better from their point of view now that little currently obstructed it. The thing which he pointed towards however, turned out to be (much to their shock) a… completely INTACT Shiro. Said boy lay in the fetal position on what seemed to be the ONLY spot in the entire camp COMPLETELY free of any of the slaughtery gore. No blood, no guts, no nothing in a perfect circle around his form. As if he himself were the sole 'pure' thing about this Camp and nothing else, like the stains of combat could not even touch him. Not even the sword which had been embedded over him like some kind of gravestone had any splotches of blood and stuff, further enhancing the 'clean' image here.

However, whilst the two soldiers sat on their horses with stunned looks on their faces, Griffith became the one to recover first and then proceeded to dismount, having sensed his mount's displeasure. Not to mention that he only picked those two as a means of performing a hit'n'run tactics in case the boy had been about to fall victim to the enemy's blade, though considering the slaughter he had seen before him that seemed to have been an unnecessary action on his part. After he had dismounted his horse and heard the splash of blood on the ground when he'd impacted it, the leader of the Band of the Hawk strode on over to the unconscious boy, the squelches that had accompanied his boots stepping through the figurative ocean of blood being the sole thing that had filled his ears. 'This scene… I remember... it could have been the case before, too…' The man thought to himself, remembering when the two of them had fought for the first time after Shiro had fought off against the bullies who had been picking a fight with him.

Back then though, he had seen what had caused this destruction before him, and it had NOT been pretty…

Lets just say that Griffith had gone to great lengths to hide the injuries he'd gotten after subduing IT when IT had attacked him back then…

At that moment, the man had wondered what it would have been like if that… THING were to be let loose onto a massive population, how effective it would have been. Of course, this was just a passing thought, not to mention that if he had focused too much on that it would look like he favoured beasts more than men, which wasn't something which his colleagues back 'home' would have agreed with.

Still, he couldn't say it wasn't part of the reason why he'd taken an interest in Shiro, to the point of recruiting him like he had. Heck, him not drawing his sword had been a lesson he had learned when dealing with matters regarding that… thing...

These thoughts soon vanished however, once he had gotten close enough to the boy's unconscious form. Kneeling down on one leg, Griffith scooped the child up into his arms, making sure to grab his sword and rest it on the boy's frame. Unconsciously, Shiro's arms wrapped around it as his expression, which had shifted into a sense of discomfort when Griffith had picked him up, returned to a more relaxed one.

The kid seemed to be VERY attached to his sword…

Afterwards, Griffith made sure he had grasped Shiro in the correct manner before he walked back to his men, his eyes regaining that hard edge to them which made the said soldiers stiffen. They'd known that look before, having seen it on his person whenever he was explaining battle tactics or out on the field itself, therefore whenever they saw that look they would immediately be at attention, ready to listen to his orders whatever they may be. Orders which soon came to light when Griffith spoke in his 'commander' voice to them. "We will not speak of this. If anyone were to ask, you will inform them that we were able to scoop Shiro out of the enemy's hands in a hit and run strategy. Understood?" he declared firmly, his gaze that of his group's namesake.

"S-Sir, yes sir!"

Both soldiers gave their cries of affirmation, the domineering sensations they'd felt from that tone of voice used to address them making the two men shudder, though the large one did less of this. They knew well not to disobey their leader, since he had made an 'example' out of those who betrayed his trust. This had happened early into their formation as the Band of the Hawk, and only a few of them actively thought about it at this point since they had been so taken in by the man's leadership.

With that done, Griffith once again mounted his Horse (kind of hard to do actually, given the contents that he had to carry very carefully), before the trio then left with their cargo, leaving behind the scenery of absolute carnage.

* * *

"So… that group of thieves managed it after all… how terrible."

Deep within a dark corridor, a sole figure could be heard talking in a hushed voice under a dark hooded cloak. The figure's voice revealed his identity to be an elderly male, thanks to his voice being a bit croaky, something which showcased how long he had been living on this planet for. This SAME old man turned out to be the one who had handed Griffith his recent assignment, proof being the report that he had in his possession detailing events (although unbeknownst to him, they were altered by Griffith himself so that Shirou's condition remained unknown). "Despite this entire thing being one assignment, those crooks find it necessary to celebrate. Oh well, it IS a major gain for us, so I can overlook it this time…"

The figure remarked this whilst placing the report within his cloak whilst looking out a nearby window into the night, gazing up at the bright moon above them. The cloaked man remembered the look on Griffith's face when he had submitted the report to him, and shuddered. Even as he did his best to settle his nerves, the moon's illumination did little to help him ease himself, knowing just what Griffith and his Band of the Hawk's existence meant for this Village's future. "Yet still, what I find terrible, is that man's potential. To manage such an operation by himself, with next to no backing from the Church itself. Not only that, but to accomplish something so thoroughly...with his tactics and capabilities for combat… in addition to having the absolute devotion of his men… yes, he truly is a dreadful man." The cloaked man remarked, nodding to himself as he finally settled his nerves.

It wasn't very good for him to be on edge all the time like this, since his 35 year old wife and 2 27 year old sons had constantly told him. His body wasn't as strong as it used to be, so he could fall ill from stressing himself too much these days, something which the cloaked man scoffed mentally at. "Things will likely be changing in the future… yes, they will. I wonder how the others in the other Orphanages and the Council will take this."

The cloaked man hummed in thought to himself, stroking both sides of his jaw with his wrinkly looking left hand. While doing so, one could hear the sounds of scratching that came from raking one's nails along some facial hair, before the cloaked man stopped doing what he was doing and proceeded to head off back to his home, knowing that there will likely be a few changes in the near future, thanks to this man's merits. He had a feeling that someone like him would be climbing up the ranks in everyone's eyes quite quickly, stepping on plenty of hornets nests all the while.

Unbeknownst to him, however, the cloaked man hadn't been alone, for someone in a getup covered by a cloak had been nearby, watching him from the shadows. The cloaked figure hadn't done anything or said a single word, just watched the old man until he had left, before leaving as well to go inform his leader of what he had heard.

All in all, a raid was successful… despite the context surrounding it being a bit sketchy


	4. Chapter 4

The following things that Shiro had expected when waking up would have been the familiar sight of the orphanage room above his head whilst his body rested on his bed. However, when he opened his eyes and DIDN'T find this, but instead the roof of a tent, he became understandably startled.

However, it didn't take him long to calm down as memories of yesterday's successful party when they raided this base(While being forced to party against his will), drinking, having a conversation, and partying. He even helped his instincts settle down by glancing around, locating his trusty sword and grasping it, relishing in the familiar feel of it's hilt since it brought him memories of his companions, something which worked wonders for its purpose. But, after a few seconds, the white haired boy shook his head before getting up and walked out of the tent.

Not a few seconds after he did so, his sword strapped to his back like usual, his brow twitched when a man approached him from his front. "Hey, you're up early, what a party we had right?"

Shiro stayed silent, refusing to answer and just stared as the man stopped a few feet before him, then proceeded to take something out of his bottle satchel.

At first, the boy grew increasingly guarded at the unknown identity of the object the man had been searching for until it turned out to be a small bottle of liquor, one which he held up for him. "You want a drink?"

"No, I'm good." Shiro replied, bluntly with a bit of an edge to his voice.

Though, this didn't really faze the man any, proven when he shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant manner. "Suit yourself." he remarked, taking a swig of his liquor himself. Afterwards, he put it back into his satchel, before he looked back at the small boy. "So, how do you like the band the hawks?" he asked him.

This time, Shiro didn't anticipate that question, and as such he grew a frown onto his face as he tried to decipher any hidden meanings behind the question. "... In what way?" he replied slowly, his eyes showing clear distrust for the man. In his eyes, most if not all adults were considered as untrustworthy, after all.

Once again displaying his nonchalant attitude about it however, the man continued like he was just talking about the weather. "Do you think you'll do well? I mean, you did the most difficult part of the mission."

Now THAT question threw the boy off by a significant margin. Ordinarily, Shiro would have answered with a sharp no and left for the Orphanage. Throwing away all memory and association with these criminals. He knew the streets well enough to find his way back, and if he did then he likely would just continue his life as normal whilst helping his friends out with their dreams. However, that didn't happen, as in the words refused to form within his throat let alone leave his mouth. Why? He didn't know, and that confused the heck out of him, much to Shiro's internal annoyance. "I….. I don't know, how can I even know?"

The man stayed silent as Shiro was looking the other way.

This allowed the boy to continue when it became clear to him that he had the chance to give his honest opinion about the group, as biased as it may be. "This place is... strange. There is not a great difference between bands of thieves or mercenaries in this Village… they are violent, bloodthirsty, and mostly composed of ruffians and men with guilty conscience. It's all the same, they care only about money." he remarked, to which the other man looked on, letting the boy continue his words. "Yet, here throws a wrench into a lot of that. I was surprised by the people here. They were not like what I've seen… there's something else….. Something different with the hawks."

The man then put his hand on his chin thinking. He thought for a while, before he began to speak whilst Shiro looked on yet still showed that he was listening. "Hmmm…. Yeah, I guess you can say that. There is a lot of variety for mercenary troop fugitives: wanderers, sons of merchants, commoners, even the lowest peasants, they are all sort of people indeed. But if I had to point out something else, I guess it would be Griffith. Some are really impressed by him down to their very hearts, like you've seen. Some of us were orphans that had no one to look out for, people who didn't care about us, but everyone here was gathered by him."

Shiro arched his brow at this, remembering how the various people in this little group had been. They hadn't been the average band of thugs, due to the availability of their equipment and how unlike that said equipment was for classic thugs: horses, armour, weapons… they had looked like less of a band of thugs and more like a mercenary group… one that had been set up by the man known as Griffith. That's what he had gotten from that speech this man gave him, and it caused Shiro to frown. "... This guy seems to be a good man, then." he mused, though there was a bit of a perplexed intent mixed in there.

At this, the other man chuckled. "Yeah, you can say that anyway each one of us isn't that good of a person. We're not too different from the other thugs ourselves, just like you said. There's really no difference between a mercenary or a thug, but we're not as "wild" as the other mercenaries. We're a bit different from those guys who don't care about anything, apart from their own survival and money."

"... usually with this big of a group how is it that you have not been disbanded yet?"

"Heh it's a wonder. Even if we keep dealing with bloody affairs like killing people, or getting killed on a daily basis, strangely we are still capable of crying, laughing, and anger. it's what Griffith said to us whenever we have an argument in the band."

Shiro stayed silent as he processed what the man said to him about the reason why the band of hawks didn't disband, before asking the man. "Griffith….. What kind of person is he?"

The man tried to think of an answer to Shiro. "Hmmmmm….. I don't know."

When he heard that answer, Shiro looked at the man with deadpanned eyes "So you were attracted to a guy you don't even really know?" he questioned incredulously, suddenly he began to wonder about the intelligence of the people in this group, if they had been taken in by Griffith in this manner.

"Wha?! No! Hear me out! It's just… #SIGH#, how can I put this? It's just that, when you get the impression he understands all about everything, he suddenly looks like a kid. Just when you get that chilly glare from him, he suddenly switches modes and laughs like a child. Let me ask you this: is he a child, is he an adult, is he a good guy, is he pure evil…..? In the end, you just can't really get to know what he is." the man explained, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as he tried to explain the… complexity around Grifith.

Shiro then thought about what the man said to him as he pictures the times when he had been with Griffith. Thinking about it, he DID sometimes gets the chilly face, but then the next moment his face looked like pure evil. Like that time he had challenged the man for a second time.

Whilst Shiro pondered this, the man then spoke again. "But, he and the rest of us are different in some respects, he ponders and naturally does things that we as mere mercenaries only hear of while being used, I don't know how to explain it but….. It's not just how he wields the sword or plans battles. I think in my opinion Griffith has something we common people don't and maybe will never have in our entire lives, some kind of….. Confidence he has."

"Confidence with what?"

"With everything."

Shiro then stayed silent pondering about Griffith as he knew the man was right about the confidence part that the leader of the band of the hawk, he did look confident in everything he does, he'll give him credit for that.

Just then another man came into the picture. "Hey rookie! The boss wants you."

Shiro then made to get up as homemade to head out. "Thanks for the talk, see you around."

As he was just about to leave, the other guy said something to him. "Hey pasangan(Mate!)!" Shiro then turned to see what he wanted to say. "You'll surely find your place with the hawks, I'm sure of it."

Shiro stayed silent before following the man who called him as they passed some tents, before stopping by a door and opened it. Upon doing so, Shiro came face to face with Griffith himself, the man standing there as naked as the day he had been born. Unaware of the audience he now had, the older man raised a bucket over his head, tipping it so thay the water inside splashed out of it, drenching the man.

Shiro then mentally noted this down with a dry look. 'For some reason or another, huh…?'

Finally, Griffith noticed someone else's presence near him, prompting him to lower the bucket from his head as he turned to Shiro. "Oh hey… care to join me? It's a great way to sober up."

"... I'm good."

A quick, two-second reply escaped the lad as he stepped forward, his escort leaving him behind so the two of them could talk in peace. However, Griffith wouldn't take no for an answer apparently, for he then grabbed a bucket of water that had been next to him. Afterwards, he began to approach Shiro as he backed away, warily. He didn't like the look that the guy sported right now. "Come one don't say that."

"Hey hey! Stop you idiot! You're supposed to act like an adult-!"

Before he could say anything more or complete his sentence, Shiro spluttered incoherently when he got splashed by Griffith. Running water fell from the top of his head in small streams after he'd gotten doused, to the point where he then made an angry face at Griffith, who proceeded to laugh at him. "HAHAHAHAH! WHAT A FUNNY FACE!"

"Alright, that's it. You want to play like that? Fine then."

In a surge of retribution, Shiro glanced around, spotted a third bucket filled to the brim, and finally grabbed it to splashed all over Griffith, who then proceeded to splash back leading to a splashing war between the two.

* * *

A while later, the two had thoroughly exhausted one another after countless slip-ups, dosages of water and more than a few times they had almost drowned the other. As a result, they then sat together behind the well as Griffith began to speak. "That was a good exercise for the morning, you fully awake now-GGAAHHH!" Griffith then yelled as Shiro pulled out an extra bucket of water, before he held it over Griffith's head. He then splashed the guy without warning, as Griffith looked at Shiro with an amused face. One which the boy didn't reciprocate as he retaliated with a dull stare. "Shiro you…..?!"

"That makes us even." Shiro retorted dryly, not at all amused.

For a moment, silence remained between the two save for the sounds of dripping water that came from the wet, naked man.

"... Whew, hahahhahahahahaha! Alright, I lost! You're really stubborn." Something which soon got dismissed when the merc leader proceeded to laugh his ass off. On his end, Shiro scowled at him, not finding this stuff funny at all.

Shiro then noticed something on Griffith's neck, something which caused him to furrow his brows in confusion. "What is that around your neck? That strange necklace…" he asked, pointing to the said object which hung around his neck. He didn't know what to make of it, but Shiro DEFINITELY hadn't seen anything like it before, the necklace consisting of a strap attached to what looked like some sort of… crimson jewel, one with various circular holes across its form. He didn't know how else to describe it… though, deep down, Shiro got this strange feeling from it, a feeling he couldn't really describe all too well.

"Oh this?" Griffith remarked, momentarily surprised before he grabbed his necklace and held it in front of his face. With these movements, Shiro got a clearer view of it, to which that strange feeling only intensified. The thing looked like some sort of crimson egg-like thing, one with….. A disfigured face with its facial parts not in its place. Yet, even as a mild look of discomfort fell onto his features, Griffith held it gingerly as he eyed it almost affectionately, unperturbed by its appearance. "A long time ago, I bought this from an old fortune-teller, a gypsy woman. It is called a Beherit, also known as "The egg of the conqueror." the person who possessed this in exchange for their blood and flesh, their fate will be to take the hold of the world." he explained, much to the boy's confusion.

"... The world?"

Griffith took off his necklace as he gave it to Shiro for a closer look.

"Here, look."

Shiro looked closely at it, seeming interested as he looked at this 'Beherit' thing. As he looked at it though, the boy got the shock of his life when suddenly, an eye opened up and its pupil looked straight at Shiro. Something which IMMEDIATELY caught him off guard and prompted him to throw it towards Griffith, who he caught it in his right hand. "GAAAAHHH!"

"I don't know how it works but it certainly seems alive doesn't it?"

Whilst Shiro had a hand over his chest to calm his pounding heart, the boy looked back to the egg shaped necklace, now more disturbed by it than anything else. "That's disgusting."

His opinion wasn't shared by the necklace's owner, however. "Cool, isn't it?" he remarked with a large grin.

One which only made Shiro's dull look become even duller like the darkness to Griffith's light. "... No, it's not." he stated.

This statement caused the merc leader to pout like a spoiled brat not getting his way. "Ahhhh you're really no fun."

Once again, silence dominated the two, until Griffith then chose to change to a different topic of conversation. Though, it wasn't an unfamiliar one as he glanced towards the small boy. "Shiro…. I want you to join me." he told him directly, his tone as serious as it had been when they had first seen one another.

Hearing this caught Shiro by surprise, not having expected this question after everything that had happened. "Huh….. for what?" Shiro questioned.

"... All you've seen so far… That's just a mere stepping stone…. The hawk soldiers, our victories on the battlefield. They're just the outset, just the beginning. Things will get interesting after that. So interesting it might be with risking our lives." the man replied, standing up before facing Shiro whilst sun rays began illuminating his upper body. This made Shiro resort to covering his eyes, although the adult's words could still be heard as clear as day to him. "Fight on my behalf. From now on, you belong to me. I'll be the one who will decide your place of death."

Upon saying this, Griffith offered a hand to the boy, his eyes bearing down on him like the first time they had met one another whilst lacking that previous child-like innocence. Shiro himself didn't know what to do about this still, but if there was one thing he DID know, it would be that he really didn't have much of a choice in the matter. He had already lost the duel between him and this guy, so his life currently lay in his hands. Just like Griffith had declared that day. Even so, despite how Shiro didn't know if what he had to do would end up helping his childhood friends in their quest or not, for now he knew two things for certain: that there wasn't any turning back, as well as that he would be having a LOT more targets to swing his sword at.

Something which deep down, he felt a bestial growl of approval at the prospect.

* * *

**Timeskip 7 years**

Just seven years passed, a mere seven years since Shiro had joined the Band of hawks. During that time, Shiro had gone through multiple changes to his lifestyle which, if one were to have asked him if he thought were possible during his time back at that Orphanage, he would have laughed in their faces before breaking their teeth in.

One such change was that, to his surprise, Jamal and Brihanna had joined the band of hawks not too long after he had, about a couple weeks later. They'd done so, because they didn't want to be in that Orphanage. Though, that was mostly Brihannas reason whereas Jamal had wanted to achieve his dream of making an Orphanage of his own, so he had decided to give it a shot. Whatever befell that Orphanage now would no longer be their concern, since they weren't affiliated with it any more... though, each of them DID get a small amount of amusement when some of Shiro's bullies had tried to harass him on his last day, only to get 'the stare' from Griffith. The kind of stare that made it seem like his gaze was like twin blades piercing right into one's soul, reminiscent of the namesake his merc group had been named after.

THAT had been a fun experience.

In these past few years, Shiro and the band of hawks had performed many accomplishments, successful battles, raids, and stopping other thugs or soldiers hired by various Orphanages from entering their territory for one reason or another. The elders were very happy that the band of hawks had been as successful as they had been, to the point where their exploits had caught the attention of the village leader. The guy had shown up to them seemingly out of nowhere, though Griffith had seemingly suspected him to be coming judging by his lack of reaction, only for the man to then reward Griffith with the title of 'village defender', a rank that was rarely achieved throughout the years.

Furthermore, it had been decided that, thanks to their efforts, Shiro, Brihanna and Jamal would be given joint command over a section of the Band of the Hawks, mostly consisting of children whom their leader had seen as valuable assets to their cause. Originally Griffith had wanted to have just Shiro as the leader, only to later change his mind when he reflected on how the kid was. Thankfully, thanks to this decision the children taskforce, also known as the 'Neo-Legion' thanks to Jamal insisting the unit be called such, became a prominent part of the merc group's offense force: slaying countless opponents that had stood in their way after a while of training them on how to be proper soldiers. Training which had been mostly supervised by Jamal, who had the most experience out of the children.

Right now, Shiro, Brihanna, and Griffith were gathered inside a tent within the group's hideout, as Griffith talked about another raid to supply more for the orphanage they had been contracted with.

Whilst they talked, a man entered the tent gaining all of their attention. "Sir, a contact from the village elder informed me that we have lost contact with one of the large orphanages. The elders want to hire us to investigate." he informed, pulling out a scroll and handing it to the merc leader.

Griffith then put his hand on his chin as he thought about the situation before coming to a solution. "Alright, I-"

"I will go and check the orphanage alone."

However, before he could finish any sentence Shiro suddenly stepped forward, not looking much different than his 6-year-old self aside from looking like a preteen now, with a build similar to an olympic athletes (not like he knew what they were though, he'd only heard about them in passing, but never put too much stock into it). When he declared his intentions, however, Griffith didn't look too impressed by them, if anything he looked appalled by the suggestion. "Shiro! What are you talking about?! You can't do this alone!"

When the man tried to persuade him against this course of action, Shiro casually dismissed his words with a shrug of his shoulders. "It's fine Griffith, it's just one orphanage. I'll just go check there see what's the problem and I'll be back soon." he explained, his gaze clear and firm to showcase that he wouldn't be backing down on this. Something which Griffith had gotten used to seeing over the last 7 years.

Thus, he could only sigh in dismay after a moment's worth of staring into those eyes. "... (SIGH) okay, but if you're not back soon then I will come as well if anything goes wrong." he stated, and just like with Shiro's gaze before, this one held no room for debate either.

Something which mildly annoyed Shiro, but he didn't refute the man for it since at least this way he got to do this solo mission himself instead of someone else. "... I understand, Griffith." he replied, agreeing to those terms. He then glanced towards the scroll in the merc leader's hand, pointing towards it with the following words leaving his mouth. "Alright show me where is the location."

Looking down at the scroll again, Griffith hummed for a bit after scanning it's contents again, before going to a table littered with maps of the Village's layout. He then began to look for the Orphanage in question by running his finger along one of the maps."Let me see….. That one." he proclaimed, tapping his finger on the specified location.

With that declared, Shiro walked up to the Table and checked the location out, his eyes brightening. "It's not even that far… ok, I'll head there."

"Be safe, Shiro."

* * *

**Later**

As Shiro walked to the place where they lost contact with the orphanage, his eyes narrowed when then saw that the whole surrounding area was quiet…. Too quiet. Shiro narrowed his eyes at this, quickly figuring out that something had gone horribly wrong as he continued to walk. 'I can smell it… blood, and lots of it…' The boy thought to himself, pocketing his hands inside his worn pants as he strode forwards with caution.

When he arrived at a big building, INSTANTLY Shiro figured that this must be one of the larger orphanages due to its size and how expansive it looked… though, in that same instant his instincts screamed at him that something bad was nearby. Briefly, he mentally swore he heard something growling in the back of his mind, but paid little attention to it.

Not only did the Orphanage look like it had seen better days, somewhat like his old Orphanage home, but it also looked like it had suffered damage rather recently if he were to look at the destruction it had been dealt to. The Orphanage looked to have been surrounded by a large, square-shaped wall, one which was quite tall in height, though right now portions of it looked to have been busted open like bombs had gone off across it, with large holes being left behind. For the main building, it had various holes in it too, with tiles on it's roof being all ruffled and dozens of cracked windows, leaving behind small holes. The Gates themselves also looked like they had been wrecked beyond repair, with one even haven fallen off its hinges completely onto the ground in front of it. Various smoke trails rose to the skies above, not too big to be noticed from a distance, but since Shiro had been close enough he DID notice.

'Looks like whoever did this, might still be inside… if this destruction's recent, then i'll have to prepare for a fight…' Shito thought to himself, internally gulping as he reached behind him and drew his sword, ready for any ambushes that might happen to him.

As he walked towards it, Shiro entered the Orphanage through it's front door, opening it and stepping inside. As he closed it behind him, he found that he stood inside a large room, likely some kind of grandiose room in it's glory days… although the sight before him made Shiro grit his teeth behind his closed mouth.

In front of him, he saw through the rays of sunlight shining through the many holes, dozens of adults sprawled across the floor, blood spewing everywhere with countless smears scattered all over the place. There weren't just adult corpses scattered around, either since Shiro saw countless children corpses too, each of them looking to be in conditions of varying dismemberment, likely due to whatever had attacked this place originally not showing any mercy to them.

'The fuck… whoever did this, they didn't show mercy even to the kids… not like I'd expected anything less from this shit hole of a place…'

Kneeling beside one of the corpses, Shiro inspected it by putting his hand on it's throat, confirming that it was indeed dead. Not only that, but it looked like the adult had died in shock, pain and terror, like the last thing he'd seen before crossing into the afterlife had been something that would have driven any mortal soul to commit suicide. The way the eyes had rolled back with dried saliva and wide, open mouth confirmed that for him. Not only that, but it looked like a portion of his right side had been seemingly ripped out by force… and by something rather large. A claw, Shiro suspected, although he had ZERO clue as to how that could be a thing.

'Shit… this can only mean one thing…'

It didn't take him long to realize what had happened here: The reason why the Orphanage had lost contact with this place wasn't due to some malfunction... they were attacked.

But… by what? That was a question Shiro wasn't sure if he even WANTED an answer to.

Gripping the handle of his sword tightly, Shiro took a moment to compose himself, calming his pounding heart and raging instincts to get out of here as quickly as possible. Thus, he then went throughout the building, discovering an increasing number of corpses, with the number of children corpses increasing as well. At this point, Shiro suspected that there would be zero survivors for this incident and didn't believe he would find any survivors, for whatever had done this looked to have been thorough in making sure there were zero survivors.

Whilst progressing through the building, Shiro eventually came into a dining room on the second floor, as evident by the destroyed tables and chairs scattered throughout. It was here that he began to grit his teeth, struggling to repress and control his raging instincts whilst he grabbed the side of his head. 'Ugh! What the… why do I hear something growling… inside of me…?' The boy wandered as he kept hearing a beastly growl inside his noggin. However, he began to doubt whether or not it came from inside his head when the boy saw that he hadn't been alone in the dining room…

For, near the back of the room, there sat a man with his back turned to him, though Shiro didn't need to see his front to know that the guy had a fairly muscular build, somewhat like a bodybuilder or one of those large guys wielding hammers he'd seen a few times. However, from what little he COULD see, Shiro initially tensed up with his eyes wider than saucers, before he gritted his teeth as a snarl ripped from his lips whilst he got into his battle stance. The faint clanking of his sword seemed to alert the man to his presence though, as he slowly stood up and began turning to face him with a similar speed. This allowed Shiro to see his features, revealing how the man looked to be…. Barely anything human at all when discussing his facial features. He looked to sport some light brown coloured skin, something which surprised Shiro since it looked nothing like those of who he had seen here, with pointed ears and a red sclera in his eyes. His eyes being slitted like a cat's, something which only added to his ominous presence.

As he turned around, Shiro noticed that the large man had been holding a dead child in it's large, meaty left hand. One who looked to have lost an entire arm, leg and had a large gaping hole in the shoulder, something which Shiro figured that this man had been the cause for all of this.

"Oh? Looks like someone came here from the outside after all…" The man spoke, his voice almost booming even though he spoke so casually like he was talking with an old friend. Not to mention that, whilst he had stood up, he had discarded the dead child's corpse without a care in the world, as well as picked up a previously hidden weapon. The weapon in question? It looked to be some sort of mix between Cleaver and sword, one which looked to be the same length as two Griffith's with one atop the shoulders of the other.

Shiro held his own sword at the ready, his scowl fierce as he spoke. "Did you do all this?" with his sword, he gestured around the room although both knew that he really meant everything regarding this building.

It didn't look like the man wanted to hide what he did either, in fact he didn't look like he had been bothered by this act one bit as he answered simply. "Yes." He then went on to elaborate. "These fools thought they could challenge me. I crushed them all." the man proclaimed, before he stood before Shiro with his sword at the ready. "However, you seem like someone who can provide-"

"Hya!"

"?!"

SWING-CLANG!

In an instant, Shiro acted as he jumped forwards and struck with a diagonal slash, having gone for a strike that would have severed the man's arm from his body if he hadn't blocked it with his own large sword in time. However, Shiro gasped when the man's other hand lashed out, smacking him straight in the side and launching him away into one of the Dining room's walls.

'Ugh… that strength… that did NOT feel like anything even remotely human! This guy… is he some kind of freaking monster or something…?!'

Fortunately, whilst thinking this Shiro managed to recover himself somewhat, flipping backwards and landing on the floor, sliding to a halt before looking up at his opponent who looked to be contemplating something.

"A preemptive strike? Hmmmmmmmmm… Not bad, you nearly got me there with that speed of yours, boy." The man spoke as he held his sword at the ready, his beady crimson eyes bearing down on him. A low hum erupted from his throat as he cupped his chin with his free hand, almost glistening with something akin to intrigue. It looked like the man wanted to say something else, but instead chose to remain quiet, and thus charged forwards with a diagonal slash from his sword,

Quickly, Shiro rolled to the side to avoid it, then turned around and held his blade horizontally above his head to defend against a downward smash that followed after the previous attack. The large man didn't let up in spite of this however, for he constantly wailed on Shiro's defences like there was no tomorrow until the boy managed to jump backwards to get some distance between them.

Although, just from that short exchange the boy had found himself breathless, having exerted way more strength than he was used to in order to defend against those mighty blows. 'D-Damn… that strength took a lot out of me…' He thought to himself, mild beads of sweat across his forehead whilst he retained his original sword stance. 'I was probably only able to defend so far thanks to the large size of my blade, any normal sword would have been cleaved through by this point and their wielder ceasing to be fully whole... Looks like I can't let this get dragged out too much, then. I'll have to settle this quickly then go report to Griffith…' Shiro thought as he adjusted his stance.

Something which caught the man's attention indeed, judging by the way he hummed once again. "I see… you've been made aware of the difference between us… so you're risking it all in a single strike… interesting. I'll take you up on that challenge!" The man declared, holding his blade in both hands in a way which showed Shiro just how good he had become with that blade. Obviously, this guy wasn't some kind of pushover, if the destruction he had left this building in hadn't been enough of an indication.

Whilst getting ready, Shiro grimaced as he felt the growling inside his head again, only this time it felt even LOUDER than before. What the heck was happening here, why did something like this have to happen NOW of all times? Did it have something to do with the opponent he was fighting? Questions like these should have filled his mind at the moment, but Shiro had simply discarded all thoughts other than the ones needed for battle, knowing that if he were distracted for this one exchange then Shiro would likely have met his end… just like all the others in this place.

Not something which the white haired male wanted, believe it or not.

"Uoooooooooh!"

"Grraaaaaarrgh!"

In one instantl, Shiro slid forward whilst swinging his sword, with the man doing the same thing. If one were to look at them from an outside perspective, then it'd look like they were going to clash again like before, however in one second Shiro adjusted his grip on his weapon and shifted it's target, going from a slash right into a stab instead. One which caught the man by surprise as he failed to react quick enough which resulted…

STAB!

… in the sword embedding it's tip into his chest.

'... There. Managed to get the first blow in…' Shiro thought, remembering his past battles. His experience on the battlefield had taught him many lessons, one of which was that the one with the first blow under his or her belt would have the advantage in a fight. Thus, he felt no shame in admitting that he felt a bit prideful in the knowledge that he had done this to his opponent as he quickly pulled his sword out and took a few steps back, ready to continue the fight…

"...ufufufufufufufu…"

… when all of a sudden, the man began to chortle in dark amusement. Blood ran down the wound whilst Shiro's own began to run cold, the growling in the back of his mind intensifying to the point where Shiro felt like his head would be splitting apart at any moment. He didn't have time to ponder on it though, since the man began to speak once more, a low rumbling sound beginning to emerge from him. "Interesting… How interesting indeed… for a human like you…. To be ABLE TO STAB… **MEEEEEE!"**

As he spoke, changes began to happen across the man's body, the first being that his form quickly grew even bulkier, increasing in height a bit too whilst two large curved bull horns grew out of his forehead. His body's flesh became crimson, as well as got covered by fur whilst his feet became cloven hooves that looked like they could smash a grown man's skull. His hands, bulky and meaty even BEFORE, only seemed to swell with this new size whilst his mouth twisted and morphed, becoming a maw filled with razor sharp fangs, as well as a slight snout which bore those large fangs at the now stunned Shiro.

Said male only trembled at the sight of the transformed… monstrosity before him, his eyes having shrunken to the size of dots whilst his mouth had fallen open. His form remained unable to move, unable to speak or even think as he looked into the slitted eyes of the creature before him.

"**THROUGHOUT MY YEARS OF SLAUGHTERING, YOU RE THE FIRST… WHO HAS STABBED ME LIKE THIS...YOU'RE MAKING ME EXCITED! YOU'RE MAKING MY BLOOD BOIL IN A WAY THAT IT HAS NOT IN MANY YEARS...HOW EXHILARATING! TO MAKE ME FEEL LIKE THIS… TO GET ME ALL RILED UP… YES! YOU MUST FIGHT ME! DON'T YOU GO LETTING ME DOWN, NOW!" **

With that, the beast before him jumped forwards, reaching forth towards Shiro with the intent to smash him… only for the boy's vision to finally go black.

* * *

"The town has been really quiet now."

These words escaped Griffiths' lips as he frowned, leading a small group of his subordinates consisting of himself, Jamal and Brihanna, the two of them insisting that they came along in order to make sure their friend was alright. The young adult had noticed something… something else within the girl's tone when she talked about the guy, but Jamal didn't seem to have noticed though, so he hadn't said anything about it. Especially since it only briefly appeared before vanishing right after. Furthermore, Griffith prioritized the fact that these two must have cared a LOT for Shiro if they wanted to do this for him, which made sense when he'd considered their past relationships to him. Thus, alongside a small detachment of subordinates, the group had ventured off towards the location that he had sent Shiro to investigate.

It had been about 3 hours since the boy had gone to learn what had happened in that area, and he hadn't come back. As such, the worried man had decided to go and check on him to see how he had been doing or if he needed any assistance. He felt that Shiro likely wouldn't be too pleased with the help, but in this case his word overruled the boy;s desire to fight solo and prove himself for some reason.

"Yeah you can say Griffith, I even don't hear a single person or a noise!"

Beside him, Jamal scowled as he looked around, putting his right hand over his forehead like a makeshift shade one would use to get out of the sunlight as he tried to see as far as he could of his surroundings However, no matter how hard he looked, the buff dude couldn't see any souls in the vicinity for the life of him. That revelation alone set off many alarm bells inside the young teen's mind, as well as increased the worry for his bro all the more.

On Griffith's opposite side, Brihanna cupped her chin as she cautiously surveyed the scenery, clutching the grip of her main choice of weapon: a Bow, tightly. Though attached to her hip was a shortsword for defensive purposes in case the enemy got too close. "This clearly looks suspicious, maybe it's a trap." she remarked, thoughtfully.

Though, the merc leader shook his head as he sternly added on to that opinion. "We don't know that Brihanna, but if it is then we must be prepared."

"You got it boss." both kids responded with a salute gesture, something which Griffith had taught them to do when confirming his orders. Apparently where he came from, a lot of people did this gesture in the military as a form of respect to one's seniority.

As the group walked to the building where Shiro had gone to, they grew increasingly worried that something bad had happened to their companion. Add in the fact that that he didn't come for a while, and it resulted in them deciding to go check on him, with Brihanna and Jamal worried about their friend.

Finally, they come across a big building that must be the orphanage, although the sight of it proved more than a LITTLE unnerving as Jamal soon pointed out. "This must be the place guys, I'm having a bad feelings about this..."

"Me too Jamal, lets take out our weapons just as a precaution." Brihanna responded, before glancing at their leader for his permission. "Ok, Griffith?"

It didn't take long for him to reply, but the way he did so confirmed to the kids to draw out their weapons. "We don't know what happened, but we need to know if Shiro is ok or not."

"... I hope you're right Griffith."

Whilst the group took out their weapons, they walked to the orphanage, passing through the damaged gates and entering the outside yard. Once they got inside there, they went into the Orphanage and found themselves in the large entrance hall that Shiro had seen previously. There, they saw multiple men down on the floor, blood spilling out as they were horrified at what happened.

"What….. Happened here….?! A-Are they…?"

Griffith's gaze remained as stern as it had been during their trip here, but he confirmed the buff teen's fears all the same. "Their dead, Jamal." he declared, and it didn't take a magnifying glass to know that the man had been right. The states of the corpses had been enough of an indicator, as well as the lifeless looks in their eyes.

"Did… did Shiro do this?"

When Griffith heard Brihanna's question, he glanced down at her. He soon noticed how she looked quite nervous, but nothing that could be described as scared as she gripped her Bow tightly in her right hand, her left one itching to go to the quiver on her back to draw an Arrow. "Doubtfully Brihanna, because look it looks like the adults died in shock, pain and terror, like the last thing they had seen before crossing into the afterlife had been heavily traumatic. The way the eyes had rolled back with dried saliva and wide, open mouth confirms this. Not only that, but it looks like they weren't butchered just by a sword… but also by something rather large. A claw, perhaps given the shape the wounds had."

Now THIS sent chills down the spines of the two kids, several soldiers behind them turning pale with fright at the thought as Brihanna launched the following exclamation. "A claw?! How can an animal do this?! I mean sure there are bears and wolves but this huge wound? How can this be?!"

Even as he understood her concern, Griffith only focused on one thing: the possibility of Shiro needing help which seemed increasingly likely. Though, the lack of combat sounds definitely didn't do the man's nerves any favours. "We don't know for certain, but if it did cause this, then that means…"

"... Ah, shit! SHIRO, HOLD ON! WE'RE COMING!"

"WAIT, JAMAL!"

In an instant, Jamal broke off into a mad sprint deeper into the Orphanage, ignoring the orders to wait by Griffith although he soon followed suit. Soon, the rest of the group ran after Jamal and Griffith, the former having realized that Shiro was likely in MAJOR trouble right now.

Whilst they they ran past the corpses in the room, they soon began running throughout the entire orphanage. To which they also passed by some children's corpses as well. As they looked left and right, uncaring about the dead bodies as they looked for their friend, each of them feared the worst for him.

Was Shiro okay?

Did he find what had caused this?

Was he even alive at this point…?

Thoughts like this filled their minds whilst the group finally broke into a large dining room. When they looked they saw countless gashes and slash marks all around the room, and in the middle of it all was their friend laying down on the ground.

"SHIRO!" A loud shout escaped him as Jamal dropped his weapon, ignoring it's clanking against the carpets whilst he went to Shiro. Kneeling beside the unconscious boy, he gently picked his head up, proceeding to urgently yell at him whilst shaking him. "Shiro, are you alright?! Speak to me!"

"Uhhhhh."

When he heard the boy groaning, confirming that he was indeed alive, not just Jamal but the entire group each released sighs of relief, knowing that despite the massive amount of death here they hadn't lost one of their best members. "Oh, thank God you're alright, man… Thought we'd lost you for a moment there. Hold on, we're getting you out of here!" he proclaimed, quickly grasping wrapping one of his friends' arms around the back of his shoulder and placing his free arm around the unconscious Shiro's waist.

Jogging up to him, Brihanna looked around with concern, not liking the thought of what they had seen around the young boy. "What about the bear Jamal?" she questioned.

Before he could answer with something along the lines of him not giving a shit compared to getting Shiro to safety, Griffith beat him to it with a more levelheaded response."Once you go back to the base, call in reinforcements. If this causes this much damage, there is no telling what it would do next."

Jamal nodded his head in understanding, knowing that something so dangerous could definitely cause a LOT of damage to the Village if left unchecked. Although, he still held concerns whilst holding Shiro close to him at the same time. "Alright I will but what about you?" he questioned the man.

Said man turned to view the surroundings in their entirety, suspicions telling him that this was NOT just this mystery beast's doing with flashbacks to the camp forming in his mind. 'I bet that… thing came out again when Shiro got attacked by whatever destroyed this Orphanage. It seems to mostly come out when he is under great stress and danger, which explains why it came out when I first fought him as well as back in that camp…' the man thought, all before addressing his subordinate. "I have to make sure it doesn't do more damage to it, I'll stay here for a while, now go!"

"Ok Griffith,. just be safe!"

* * *

**Timeskip 2 months later**

In a dark room, lit only by a single lantern in the middle of a round table, multiple figures that were cloaked by hooded cloaks looked to be urgently discussing an important topic… one which started with a 'G' and ended in an 'ith'. One guess as to who this subject was.

"We must do something to this band of the Hawk, especially their leader Griffith."

"Agreed."

"I completely understand."

"But why do we need to plot against them? they have brought glory and order to our village. If this keeps up, we can eventually expand and evolve into a more prominent location."

"You don't understand, since you're new here we'll tell you. You see, Griffith is a dangerous man, not only has he managed to raid multiple strongholds belonging to multiple high-profile officials throughout the Village, but he apparently has countless soldiers on his side, alongside the love of the populace for his leadership as well as his strength. Who knows what would happen, or the amount of damage he could cause if he decided to betray us."

"Especially since he is an outsider coming from something called a 'church', whatever that is. We can't take any chances."

"Why not make them disband?"

"... No it won't work, because from the spy info, they completely trust each other especially Griffith they have great trust in him that even if they disband the group, they would regroup again."

"Then what should we do then, if we can't get rid of the group then how can we even get rid of him?"

"Hmmmmm, how about since he's popular with women? why not make one of our daughters seduce him?"

"What?! You suggest we give one of our daughters to him?! Absurd! No! I will not allow my daughter to get involved!"

"Me too! My daughter already has a family and I'm expecting a grandson soon!"

"... fine, show of hands. Who won't allow their daughters to be involved with this?"

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

...

"... and who shall allow their daughter to be involved with the plan?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... I will allow it."

"Dalton?! Are you sure about this? If they even find out that you were behind this, not only will they know that your daughter is involved but us too!"

"If it's the risk is too high…. Then I'll take it, for the greater good."

"... fine, but we need to plan carefully so that they won't realize that we were involved. It would take time but we need to have patience."

"Ok, what should we do?"

"Well…"

* * *

**AN:**

**Hunter here, welcome to the fourth chapter of Frenzy DxD. As one might expect, since this is the prologue arc we're going to have to cut corners with the whole adapting berserk's content. We will have to make multiple changes due to the changes in time and place, but hopefully it'll work out. Also, anyone want to take a guess as to what it is that Shiro has? It's obvious that there's SOMETHING within him, but what? Anyways, hope you like and look forward to the next one.**

**PEACE OUT!**

**Finally we are back at this story!... My name Darklord, bringing you a chapter of our first made story! Now, if your wondering why we came to this story, it is because this is being left out for some months and we can't just abandon it. If we did, then we can't call ourselves writers if we abandon a story. So there isn't much to say but let tell you why these are plotting against Griffith, they are paranoid and afraid because they have too much power, too much power would make anyone afraid of them. The plot is starting to thicken now for the main event will soon arrive. Alright thank you for reading our story, be sure to leave a review if you want check out my partners profile if you want to read his story and I'll see you next time!**

**GOOD LUCK!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Timeskip 2 years**

Some would say that an emblem is a symbol of a crowned village, the middle of the heavens. Instead, it was a flag of victory, showing their symbol of what they are. A lion for its pride, snake for cunning, a tiger for its ferociousness, and an eagle for its freedom when it soars high to the sky, being free of the dangers of what would come.

These past 2 years since Shiro, Brihanna, and Jamal had joined the band of the hawks had been one event after another. As in, they not only raided almost every stronghold in the area but also united their owners in one banner with Griffith also uniting all of the orphanages so that some would unite their friends, family, or companions. It had been something which Griffith had been intending to do since the very beginning, a task which could very well have reshaped the village's history

For the first time in the village's bloody history, the Band of the Hawks had achieved something that everyone could not get no matter how hard they tried:

Peace and order.

At first things had started off quite slowly, with the entire merc group being solely owned by one Orphanage which wanted to monopolize everything the Elders provided them themselves, however gradually Grifith had climbed up the ranks in terms of popularity within the Orphanage's staff members. As such, he managed to convince them to start a village-wide campaign which would pit them against every other Orphanage in the Village, one could almost call it similar to a Crusade, actually.

A crusade which had lasted for over 2 years as the players gathered on the board, resulting in 2 years filled with nothing but bloodshed.

During those times, the Band of the Hawk had gotten plenty of chances to distinguish themselves as a prominent fighting force, resulting in them becoming increasingly famous amongst the populace. It even reached the point where the people started to think that they weren't simply just petty thieves, but a knights' order. The many among the group having achieved their own dreams. Jamal finally got a house big enough for lots of people to live in, and others became rich, gained fame, and got some girls.

Speaking of girls, a few times Shiro had noticed that when he was with Brihanna, she would stare at various men (mostly soldier-types with hulking builds) who were talking and hugging each other like brothers who hadn't seen one another for so long. Whilst watching them, she would have this strange, small red blush on her brown skin, something which Shiro had learned from asking a couple of his fellow hawk members that it was a sign that Brihanna had some level of interest in those types of guys. Now, ordinarily, this wouldn't be too much of an issue, since in Shiro's mind this wasn't really a big deal. However, what confused the teenage boy was that he also saw her staring at females sometimes when they were….. Gossiping, for lack of a better word. She would partake it getting sometime close to them that he surely did see her blushing faintly.

What the hell was up with her?

Whelp, it didn't matter to Shiro because what Brihanna wants to do, she can do it, it wasn't his business.

Anyways, right now the white haired teen stood outside of a big building which likely belonged to the chief of this village, waiting. The boy stood in some leather shoes, some white leggings with matching pants, and a large coat with a formal looking vest and shirt combo. His hair remained the same, and with the broche attached to his neck, one wouldn't be able to tell that he wasn't a member of the nobility.

Still, the teen couldn't help but wince in discomfort as he tugged at his shirt's collar. Why was he wearing such a lavish outfit, one might ask? Apparently, according to Griffith the Village chief had invited a few of the Band of the Hawks group to what he had called a 'ball' of sorts, which was basically like this group event where the big shots of the city apparently gathered together to socialize. At least, that was what Shiro had been told by one of his fellow fighters.

At first he had been reluctant to go himself since he didn't have any interest in going, but then Griffith had convinced him to go since he was almost a loner type of person, and as such he could do with some socialising so he could make more friends, thus he had reluctantly come here.

Though, just like Shiro had anticipated, he soon couldn't tell if this was supposed to be 'better' since whilst the orphan kids back in his original Orphanage had alienated him due to his looks, it hadn't been long for the other Nobles to start doing the same. Though it had been done behind fans and other such 'discrete' methods, which somehow only infuriated him more. It immediately clued him in to the kind of people nobles in the upper ranks of the Village truly were: greedy, arrogant and condescending like all hell.

Right now though, as he stood outside the mansion in which he could hear the sounds of laughter and merriness, Shiro looked up at the skies above and closed his eyes immersing himself into thinking of the past.

Ever since he had joined the Hawks, everyone had achieved their dreams including Jamal. But… what about him? What had been his dream? Shiro, upon asking these questions which he hadn't thought of asking, finally made a discovery... that his 'dream' simply didn't exist, for he never had one in the first place.

Thinking about it, Shiro reflexively tried to grasp the sword on his back, only for his hands to touch nothing but air and make him realize that he had been forced to leave his sword at Camp, something which sparked a train of thought in his mind amidst the uncomfortable grimace he'd made. In the past, Shiro had never really thought of giving himself a 'dream' like Brihanna and Jamal had, they had goals to strive towards and that had been enough for him. All he had wanted to do was help them achieve their dreams… which was fine and all, but why? Why did he want to help them with their dreams other than out of obligation? Was there any other reason BESIDES obligation that fuelled his desire to help them? Shiro wasn't sure…

But, if there had been one constant that had been with him his whole life, aside from his companions and the 'dream' they had pursued, then it had been the very sword which he had honed. The sword which he had constantly refined through countless battles against all kinds of powerful opponents, the strongest one so far being that inhuman MONSTER he had blacked out against, something which Shiro had noticed but couldn't find any answers to.

From what little he HAD been able to get, he'd gotten from Griffith when he'd asked about when he'd found him, and the man had described the scene to him. Of how it had been similar to when he'd found him in that camp when he'd stayed behind to hold off the enemy. At that point, it had dawned on him that something about himself hadn't been right and, as he searched through his memories, Shiro had made a discovery: that there were small gaps in his memory where he couldn't recall anything. Sort of like a blackout, and every time they happened utter devastation had been left in the wake. Yet this had only served to make Shiro even more confused, providing more questions than answers.

Before, and even after to an extent, meeting his childhood friends Shiro had grown up with his sword as his companion, his sole confidant and the solution to pretty much all of his problems. If there had been something in his way, a swing of his blade would deal with it… perhaps, because of this safety net, Shiro hadn't thought of anything beyond simply swinging his blade. Yet… did he even want to go beyond that? That was a question he didn't know the answer to, like a lot of questions in his mind.

Just what is his dream, what does he want to accomplish? What does he want to do?

Whilst the teenager was thinking about all this, his ears twitched as he heard the sounds of footsteps, indicating to him that someone was approaching him. As a result, he glanced behind him and saw Brihanna walking to him, hands behind her back whilst glancing downward slightly. The girl, like him, had also been glammered out for this event, having been put in a red spaghetti-strapped formal gown, one with frill designs that went close to her ankles and split at the left side in the form of a slit, showing off one of her legs as well as the red heels she sported. Her long light black hair got styled into this long ponytail-like design, with it being held in place by a pink ribbon. If anything though, whilst he could admit that it looked good on her, to the point where his jaw fell open, he also didn't think she would fit into the life of those pompous nobles. It just didn't seem… natural, to him if he were to try and phrase his impressions right.

Finally, she stopped when she had reached about 4 feet away from him, giving him a slight smile as she raised a hand, which was covered by a cream coloured bicep-length glove, to give a little wave. "Heya." she greeted.

This prompted Shiro to speak the first thing that came to mind after a couple seconds. "That's really…" he began to say, trailing off as he couldn't quite finish the sentence. Though, with how he gestured to her outfit, the girl got the message clear as day.

"Yeah… these Nobles REALLY have their tastes, don't they?" Brihanna remarked, looking down at the crimson dress she wore with her arms upwards. "This dress is so gaudy and almost IMPOSSIBLE to move in. Makes me a little jealous of what you guys wear as well as the soldiers on the fighting lines. Much more comfortable…"

On that note, he could SO agree. "Yeah, that's true. These outfits REALLY don't fit me, either." he remarked, once again adjusting the collar. "Since this stuff is what the villagers' taxes get donated for, it's honestly pretty annoying. It's like the clothes represent what life up there's like: stiff, oppressive and restrictive." The boy admitted, and he wasn't entirely wrong. Throughout the back-talking and the discreet gossip, Shiro had felt like he'd gotten a big understanding of that kind of world… one which he hoped to never be a part of again.

Brihanna nodded at this, and soon enough the two stood side by side, their backs facing the mansion as they looked out to the rest of the village. Actions which almost seemed to scream of their own rejection of Nobility and politics for the simple life of a commoner, a simpler yet much more relaxing and free life they'd say. After a while of silence, however, Brihanna glanced down again as she gave a slight smile on the corner of her lips. "You know… when we first met, you were an outcast to the other orphans because they would always make fun of you. They always kept saying that your parents abandoned you because of your unnatural looks…" she remarked as memories flashed through her mind.

Whilst she said this, Shiro nodded his head, looking outwardly nonchalant whilst internally he couldn't help the nostalgia that flowed through him at those words. The first time they'd met… Shiro hadn't thought of it in a while. It had been just after he had finished some sword training, as back then he had been forcing himself to train in wielding swords bigger than himself in preparation for what he would be doing in the future. He, of course, hadn't trusted her internally yet still had been partially drawn to her kindness. She'd been the first one to truly give a damn about him, a fact he'd become aware of the existence of a while later. Then, Jamal had come into the picture with them meeting when the dude had been beaten pretty badly, helping him recover as best they could considering their circumstances, creating their trio as a result. "I approached you because I was curious and that curiosity became friends with you and, later, Jamal."

"... Yeah, I remember that, Brihanna." Shiro nodded, his own lips in a smile too, though that didn't last long since his lips curved into a frown. Things had improved a lot compared to back then, sure, but honestly, he wasn't sure why she was bringing this up right now. Still, for the time being Shiro decided to inquire as to her intentions for coming here. "Besides, what are you doing here anyway, not enjoying the party?"

After he asked this, Brihanna looked to the side, rubbing her left forearm with her right side. "... I am, it's just…. I need some fresh air." she answered nervously, electing a humming sound from him in response.

"I see." Once he finished that, Shiro looked back to the skies above, this time thinking about how he could approach this issue. Now, whilst he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but even Shiro could see that something had been bothering her, but for some reason she didn't seem like she wanted to talk to him about it since she hadn't told him by now. Usually they didn't hide much stuff from one another. But… how should he go about asking her? Shiro wasn't sure since, as someone who mostly swung their sword around without much of a care, he wasn't really used to stuff like this.

Still, as the two of them looked up at the skies, Shiro pocketing his hands inside the coat he wore, Brihanna finally gulped before she gathered her courage and spoke. "Shiro… I want to tell you something." she said, turning her head to him,

'Whoa, looks like she's going first, then... ' The boy mused internally, somewhat relieved at this since he may have been outwardly calm, but internally he'd been rummaging his brain for answers to this dilemma. From his countless many battles, Shiro had developed some keen observational skills which had helped him predict the enemy's attacks. Thus, applying them here, he had noticed multiple signs of nervousness coming from her throughout the previous silence. "Hmm what is it Brihanna?"

For a moment, the girl went silent again as Shiro fully turned to face her. However, she didn't reciprocate the gesture and instead looked away from him, though when she spoke a couple seconds later, Shiro's eyes widened… though not just from the admission that followed. "I…. I'm bisexual."

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

"...What? Did hear that correctly…. Bisexual?" Shiro questioned, stunned. It wasn't just the fact that this girl before him was bisexual, though that in itself was quite surprising to him but it got somewhat nullified when he remembered the things he'd observed from her when she'd interacted with guys and girls in the past. What surprised him the most was the way she revealed it, how she had lacked most of the easygoing confidence that she had usually displayed whenever she had been with him, Jamal or both of them. What was so different about this that she had to be like this?

Whilst Shiro wondered about this subject, Brihanna nodded her head, still refusing to meet his gaze with her shoulders slightly trembling. It looked like she was doing what she could to keep herself together, too. "Yes, I like both men and women. I was afraid you would say that." she answered though this only confused the guy all the more.

A fact proven by his next words. "What do you mean Brihanna?" he asked again.

This time though, Brihanna took several shaky breaths as if trying to calm herself down, before she calmed down enough to answer him. "...I… If I had told anyone of this, then I feared that I would be afraid and discriminated against. Something which would be all too common in this village, since they discriminated against you for your looks, Shiro." Once again, a chill crawled down her spine at the thought of that possible scenario whilst Shiro lowered his head, letting his hair shadow his eyes as she continued. "People don't like anything that doesn't quite match up with their ideals, after all, it's something I learned from you. I've been fantasizing about doing... things, with guys and girls alike. I was nervous about telling you and Jamal because I felt afraid that you would judge me for it."

"That's just stupid."

"I know, its stupid to just judge people based off trivial things, but-"

"No, I'm calling the fact that you hid this from me and Jamal, stupid."

"Eh?"

"Brihanna, I don't care if your bisexual, it doesn't change a damn thing if you ask me." Shiro explained, rubbing the back of his head with an exhale escaping his lips. Though, opposite him Brihanna looked like she wanted to win a competition for the best dead fish impression, her disbelief being palpable as the boy continued to explain JUST how he felt about this admission. "I mean, it's okay for you to be Bi, I'm not judging you or anything, since you didn't judge me either. Plus, I can assure you that if he heard this, then Jamal would agree with me. You, me, him, we're a trio for a reason, we have each other's backs no matter what. Figured that this little crusade would have compounded that for you." He told her, and it was the truth.

Throughout the entire crusade, Shiro, Brihanna and Jamal had become some of the best soldiers that the Band of the Hawk had ever produced, sticking together through thick and thin whilst always watching one another's backs in case of ambushes. Whenever Brihanna would be ambushed by enemy forces, either Shiro or Jamal, sometimes both, would hold them off long enough for her to make the final blow. Similar cases had happened whenever Shiro or Jamal found themselves neck deep in trouble, which had only solidified their bond. The entire Band of the Hawk had even designated them as the eyes, claws and wings of the Hawk with the first going to Brihanna for her Archery, claws for Shiro due to his beastly fighting style, and Wings due to the fluid agility displayed by Jamal despite his size.

"I…"

Shiro didn't see how Brihanna looked to be getting flushed by his admissions whilst teardrops had begun building in her eyes, he just kept on going as he looked to the side. This next part, he didn't think he would have to say but if it were to compound his lack of care for her sexuality, then it would be best said now. Though, the boy would not realize till years to come just exactly how significant these next words would end up being. "Besides, if it's really bothering you, then… should you and I EVER end up doing this… dating thing, that the other soldiers go on about, then I wouldn't mind if you brought other girls or guys into any multi-relationships to indulge in your fantasies. You can even make it an open relationship if you wish, as long as it's helping you feel comfortable and satisfied then I'll help you with making them happen." Finally done with his rant, Shiro looked into his childhood friend's eyes dead-on, refusing to tear his gaze away from her. Although his lips remained in a flat line, his eyes said everything else he wanted to say, to which the stunned Brihanna couldn't react in any other way than express a heartfelt, relieved smile despite the red hue on her cheeks.

Eventually, she managed to get some meager words out, and we say meager because in her mind, words couldn't express how grateful she felt at that moment. "... Thank you, Shiro… it means… a lot to me." she replied, although her words came in-between short pauses as she struggled to keep herself from breaking down, in relief not sadness by the way. After all, those words he had said cut straight through her barriers and hit her right in the heart, leaving nothing untouched.

Unaware of the significance his words meant to her, Shiro nodded as he turned around and started walking back towards the Mansion, hands in his pockets. "Alright, let's go back to the ball or else Griffith will have our asses if he finds that we're not there." He told her, although he internally mused that it would be more likely that HE himself would get his ass kicked since compared to Brihanna his social skills may as well be non-existent.

Meanwhile, Brihanna couldn't help but smile with a slightly amused giggle, since she understood exactly what the guy had been thinking. "You can say that again." she remarked, following after him whilst entangling her hands behind her back. Plus, whilst he remained in front, this also stopped the boy from seeing how Brihanna glanced downwards slightly so the fee bangs she had over her hair covered her eyes… though, the smile and the red hue she'd maintained still persisted.

As they walked to the ball, each of them thinking that things in there would be a great time for them, no more discrimination, no more being bullied, and no more bloodshed to be spilled, neither of them realized it. Whilst it was indeed a great time for them, especially Griffith since he was almost done achieving his dream...

Unfortunately all good things must come to an END.

* * *

"SHIRO, SHIRO!"

The following night, Shiro woke up from someone screaming his name as he groggily got up and got out of his tent. 'Ugh, what the hell? Why is someone calling my name now, it's…' the boy thought as he held the side of his head. 'My internal clock says it's midnight. Ugh…'

Raising his head and looking out to see who had called him, he saw that it was some soldier that was looking left and right before seeing him as he ran to him before stopping in front of him. Though, since Shiro had just woke up his question had a LOT of irritation seeped into it. "What the fuck is it? The sun is still rising."

The soldier lowered his head when he gave his report to him. "SIR, WE GOT BAD NEWS ITS ABOUT THE BOSS!"

Even as he yelled this with urgency, Shiro just groaned in annoyance as he went back to his Tent and pulled out his Sword in its sheath, strapping it to his back since he likely wouldn't be getting any sleep now. "What is it? Griffith got injured or something? either way you can just put him with the doctors."

"NO, IT'S NOT THAT!"

"Then what the fuck are you so worried about? Spill it out already!"

"HE WAS CAUGHT SLEEPING WITH ONE OF THE ELDERS DAUGHTERS!"

"... Wait, SLEEPING?! Sure, he's famous now, but how can he even sleep with someone?! Especially someone with such a position!" The white haired boy exclaimed, confusion and anger burning in his voice as he tried to make sense from what he had just been told. What the hell was going on here? From what he knew of Griffith, he wasn't someone who would do anything that would put achieving his dream at risk, he was just too driven for that. He shouldn't have done what this guard had said he did, yet just from looking into his eyes Shiro could tell that he wasn't trying to make this up.

"I DON'T KNOW, SHIRO, BUT WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE! SOLDIERS ARE COMING FROM ALL OVER THE PLACE, THE ELDERS ARE NOW TARGETING US!"

Hearing this, Shiro gritted his teeth as, now that he found himself fully awake, his ears twitched as he began to hear the sounds of movements in the distance. That alone clued him in to the fact that they didn't have much time left, so he quickly began issuing orders to the soldier. "Shit, that's bad! Well, wake everyone up and tell them to move fast, now!"

"Got it, Shiro!"

Once he gave another nod to show he had confirmed the orders, the soldier then turned and started running off, intending to go into each tent to wake up the soldiers.

Whilst this happened, Shiro then broke off into a sprint of his own, heavy breathing escaping his mouth as he went into Jamals tent which had been nearby, another testament to their bond. Entering the tent via it's flaps, the white haired male saw him sleeping on the ground, but didn't pay too much attention to that as he kneeled beside him and gripped his shoulder, shaking him wildly. "Oi, Jamal! Dude, no time for sleep, so wake the fuck up!"

After a couple seconds, the older boy groaned as he stirred out of the land of the asleep. Opening his eyes a little, the boy looked up to see the other male, his tired eyes blinking in confusion. "Huh Shiro? What is it can it wait I'm tired of-" he began to say whilst Shiro got up to head towards the entrance to his Tent.

Shiro ALSO didn't let the guy finish what he was saying, the urgency that filled his tone didn't allow it. "There's no fucking time soldiers are coming to our base and we need to leave now!" he declared.

THIS caught Jama's attention, his eyes widening before he slapped his face with his right hand. "... Ah, come on! Just when days were just getting good now! Wake up Brihanna Shiro!"

"There's no need I'm already awake."

Before the white haired boy could reply, the said female's voice came from the opposite side of the Tent. The white haired boy moved the flaps, and saw Brihanna outside the tents entrance, causing both boys to sigh in relief.

Afterwards Shiro turned his attention to Jamal again, his tone not losing any of its urgency. "Good, now we need to leave now before the soldiers get here!"

"You got it, Shiro!" Jamal replied, and afterwards the trio went out of the tent before some soldiers came running around.

"Alright, prepare the horses and wake them up!"

"YES SIR!"

The soldiers who Jamal gave orders to went to the stables woke the horses, said creatures beginning to neigh before calming down after a couple seconds. Afterwards, the soldiers then got onto some horses with Shiro, Brihanna and Jamal going to get some of their own as they began to see the enemy soldiers closing in.

"FUCK! WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW, LEAVE EVERYTHING YOU HAVE AND JUST RUN!"

"YES SIR!"

* * *

**Timeskip few months later**

Few months had passed since the day Griffith slept with the elders daughter, marking him as a disgraced man as the authorities had promptly arrested him and some soldiers who had failed to escape in time. Yet, not even up till current times did the feeling of this being like some big nightmare vanish away from the remnants of the once proud mercenary group.

Back then, not even a few days had passed before the news had already passed like a wind throughout the Village. That Griffith had committed such an act that made the Village scorn the Band of the Hawk for their leader and his actions. The band of the hawks couldn't actually believe that Griffith would do that, especially to an elders daughter that made most of them hate him and left the hawks, not wanting to be with them anymore.

However, some loyal ones believed that he was framed, including Jamal because he had a hunch that someone had planned this from the beginning. Things just seemed way too vague, and since most of the loyal guys had known Griffith for a while they just kept seeing holes in the story. To this end, he had convinced some of the loyal band of the hawks to try and find him so that they could find who was it that framed him.

Currently, it was night time to which Jamal and the other soldiers, including Shiro and Brihanna, sat together by a large bonfire. For a while, silence dominated the atmosphere around them before the oldest of the trio spoke. "Alright, from the intel that the scouts gave us before he died, Griffith was said to be held hostage in the northern side of the village, a place where they keep the prisoners. But, with Griffith case…."

One soldier looked down to the ground in contemplation, ironically being the same knife thrower whom Shiro had talked to after he'd regained consciousness from the camp incident. "Unbelievable... to think Griffith would do this….. Type of thing." he whispered under his breath.

"Maybe he wants to get laid or something." Suggested another soldier.

Though, he soon got rebutted by Brihanna who switched her gaze over to him from the bonfire. "Hey we won't know unless we find the truth, I know Griffith wouldn't do that especially with the elders daughter."

At this point, Shiro furrowed his brows, as the many conversations he had with the older man flowed through his mind. Each one, he tried to figure out what could have motivated Griffith to do this, though nothing came to mind. "... what can we do? Most of us have left the group, and the prison is heavily guarded." he remarked, remembering a few times when his past battles had taken him to that part of the Village. The amount of security around there had been nothing to scoff at either.

Jamal then looked over to him, a look of confidence in his eyes that caught the other boy by surprise. "Don't worry Shiro , the intel we got from the scout was that apparently he was given information that someone gave to him that there is a secret way to get to the prison."

"So basically, we are being supported by someone who is in the shadows?"

"Guess you can say that Shiro, alright let's go Griffith is waiting for us!"

* * *

**Later**

When the remnants of the thief group walked through a large cemetery, some of them questioned their de-facto leader Jamal on why he had led them here in the first place. However, as he was looking around, the male found a specific grave with a dot on the a quick gesture, he asked one of the soldiers to move it, to which one did so. Thanks to the soldier doing this, it revealed that the grave was hiding a secret entrance, to which they became surprised as all heck.

"According to some intelligence from my source, this is said to be a secret passage into the facility itself. We can go through here, grab Griffith's troublesome ass and then bring him out through here." the man explained, furthering the surprise and shock throughout the group.

Though, this quickly turned serious since they had recalled their task of saving Griffith. As they entered the entrance they ran through it before they stopped by the stairs. When they went up one of the soldiers pushed back the lid before one by one making sure that they weren't spotted or anything, as the last soldier went out of the secret entrance they pushed back the lid of the coffin in the middle of the room before seeing where they were.

"A….. church."

"Huh, what a coincidence..." After Shiro said this, he then looked to their de facto leader. "Hey Jamal where do we go now?"

Jamal, without glancing back at him, soon replied. "Well according to the report, he said there is a guide waiting for us."

"A guide? Who is our guide?"

"Us."

Suddenly they were surrounded by soldiers pointing their swords and spears, prompting them to realize that it was a trap the whole time. Something which Jamal shouted out in fury and frustration, since it had been his fault for the group to be in this situation in the first place. "We were betrayed!"

Stepping forward, the captain of these guards gave a triumphant grin, a scornful sneer escaping his lips. "Yeah you were, scums. Now, drop your weapons and follow us or else you want to end up on this pointy thing's side." he stated, gesturing to his blade whilst the other weapons glinted menacingly.

Slowly one by one dropped their weapons as Shiro had no choice but to follow it, including Brihanna and Jamal as they raised their hands and followed them out of the church and past to some houses when people are looking at them with disdain, disgust and hateful glares.

A while later, the group found themselves at the center of the village which was usually a place where executions would be performed, a place which NONE of the group liked to see. Yet, things got even worse when, over in the place's centre, kneeling like a slave being whipped by their master, was a man whose body looked so skinny that it showed his skeleton, wearing a falcon helmet.

"?!"

All the Band of the Hawk loyalists gasped as they realized who it was, with Shiro being the first one to dash on over to him. "Griffith!" As Shiro got to him as he looked at him in shock. "Griffith….. What did they do to you?"

"Aaa aaa Shiii aaaa rrroooo." When Griffith opened his mouth calling his name as he put up his hand to Shiro, thats when Shiro became horrified when he looked at his mouth….

His tongue was cut off. "Yo-your tongue!"

Behind the group, the Captain pushed through like the pretentious asshat that he was, cackling as he pointed his sword at them. "Hah look at your leader boy, look at the weak leader of the band of the hawks that he has become! It was SO easy to break his will! This is what every mercenary deserves!" he proclaimed, causing the Band of the Hawks to grow enraged, especially Jamal.

Said boy just stepped forward to yell at him. "YOU FUCKING BASTARD WE PROTECTED YOU AND THIS VILLAGE FOR MANY YEARS AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY US?!"

Unfortunately for him, several guards snuck up on him whilst he was yelling and thwacked him, knocking him onto the ground as the Captain stepped forwards and stomped on the back of his head. "SHUT THE FUCK UP, BOY! THIS IS WHAT HE GETS AND SOON ALL OF YOU WILL JOIN HIM!"

Whilst this happened before him, Griffith lay in despair when he was held by Shiro who tried to rescue him. Here before his very eyes, his loyal soldiers, his best friend and his companions were all being scorned by the very people who he worked hard to protect, saved, and gave him peace and order in this village. Now here he was betrayed, framed, and being mocked by them.

Slowly his bloodied hand went to his necklace, the Beherit, in order to grasp it. As he did this, his pupils shrinking and becoming dots whilst violently shaking, the Beherit…

It began to move.

It's facial parts slowly arranged themselves into their proper places, its face soon complete in about 3 seconds. At first, nothing else happened during this time, even though the face's form did indeed bring Shiro and the others' attention to it. However, this didn't last long as it began to open its eyes and mouth, resulting in it shedding tears of blood. To compliment this, the Beherit emitted a low scream which caused everyone to feel chills crawling down their spines.

"Wh-What…?!"

"What's that horrible sound?!"

Several soldiers cried out whilst the rest of the Guards, including the civilians who had gathered around for the spectacle, held their hands over their ears to try and block the scream out. However, it felt as though that their efforts didn't yield any results whatsoever since they could still hear it as clear as day. Yet, out of all of them, only Shiro had his ears uncovered, for his arms remained at his eyes as he stood up, looking down at the Beherit with every instinct SCREAMING at him to run as far away from that thing as possible and prey for his soul.

Something which would no longer be possible in the next few seconds. To start with, the ground, buildings, even the skies themselves, all of it just became nothing of what they should have been, the ground becoming a floor made of nothing but human skulls. The Buildings became the same way, but instead of being buildings anymore they turned into anthill-like structures with various bones sticking out, skulls being the most prominent. The skies themselves also became like the ground, resulting in everything around the entire village and what had once been it to become something out of a twisted nightmare. Citizens, Guards, and the former mercenary band looked around in sheer terror at the sight of things around them, some of the mothers with young children clutching their young as a form of comfort. Some kids burst into tears, crying as if they instinctively knew what would be coming soon.

Worse seemed to still be coming though, for throughout the entire village, various appendages burst out from the hills and floors of skulls whilst large faces burst out from them, reforming the land into some sort of dessert made from them with the entire village centre being one face's entire forehead. These appendages pulled the bodies they were attached to out of the skull floor like something were rising from the depths of hell themselves, a sight which made the children cry louder as they begged their mothers to take them away whilst the few orphan children held their weapons in defensive stances, still shaking in their boots though.

'The fuck…? These things…'

However, to Shiro, these grotesque beasts of all kinds of different shapes and sizes… each of them gave him the same feelings of primal dread that one man he'd blacked out against. He couldn't describe them all, due to how varied their appearances were, but if he were to try then he'd probably call them one big mass of flesh, teeth, limbs, claws and Tendril-like things, something which instinctively made him draw his sword. "Guys, we need to group up! Hold it together!" He called out to his comrades.

This wound up snapping them out of their funks, with Brihanna and Jamal doing so first as they looked back to him. "Shiro, you know what the fuck's happening here?!" the latter exclaimed, he and the rest of the former merc band surrounding their leader Griffith whilst drawing their weapons. They weren't contested or challenged either due to the Guards being too preoccupied with the situation developing around them, although that didn't mean all of them were unaffected by it with proof being how Jamal looked like he was a victim facing their death in a horror movie. "Cause I'd sure as hell liked to know if you do!"

"Next to nothing, sadly!" Shiro replied, before gesturing down to the Beherit that Griffith held. "Though I'm willing to bet that thing our leader has a connection to this shit!"

Before Jamal could reply to this, one of the faces to the far north became pale, as well as womanly… before it proceeded to lift itself out of the ground as if it were a being buried in sand at a beach. The head formed hair, facial features and even an upper body, with long arms and a bare torso that sat upright, soon sprouting large, black wings that were still taking solid shape from her back until she stood upright on two womanly legs. Though, at this point the wings had formed into ones just as large as she was tall, being about hundreds of feet in height alone whilst the wings became shaped like those of a Bat.

If this wasn't bizarre enough, from the skies above their heads, a whirlpool of painful groaning faces formed, it's centre forming a large round head with two small black eyes and a wide, grinning mouth similar to that of a mad scientist when all goes according to plan. The head soon fell out of the whirlpool, connected to a small body that had only fin-like tendrils that hang down below it.

Third, from one of the large hilltops came a figure in a similar manner to the woman, forming as a puckered human face with the body of a massive woodlouse.

Finally, the fourth one, which formed from the large black sun that floated in the skies above, once having been the moon itself until it had gotten shadowed. For this one, it took the form of a humanoid with a partially denuded skull with a large exposed brain clothed in a long cloak with a high and pointed it stood upright, it appeared that its cloak reached the ground in length, with the skull lacking a calvarium, which thus resulted in the exposed brain being much larger than could be contained in a normal human skull. The intact skull's skin looked to be drawn tight to the bone, with a missing nose and lips along with the surrounding skin retracted by fine hooks and wires. Furthermore, the eyelids looked to be stitched shut. He usually keeps his hands and arms hidden underneath his cloak.

Needless to say, NOBODY dared make a sound right now thanks to their almost colossal size and presence. Then, one of them, the one with the oversized brain, began to speak. "**TIS A TIME OF BLESSING, TIS A TIME OF CELEBRATION. I BID THEE ALL WELCOME TO THIS TIME AND PLACE. O YE' LAMBS WHO HATH CREATED GOD! WELCOME HEE HITHER AND PARTAKE IN THE HOLY FESTIVAL!" **The being then put out his hand and pointed at one of them, more specifically at Griffith being held by Shiro as they looked at it.

Shiro looked at Griffith as the others began to speak.

"Time of blessing?"

"Lambs who made God?"

'What….. Does he mean?!'

With how some of them questioned these things, none of them got answers as the big-brained individual continued on it's spiel like they hadn't done anything in the first place. "**YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE. THIS PLACE AND TIME HAS BEEN CHOSEN JUST FOR YOU. WE ARE KINDRED. THE BLESSED KINGS FOR WHICH THEY CRAVE."**

Seeing as how they were being ignored, a fire started to light itself up in his eyes, prompting Shiro to growl like an animal as he pulled out a dagger he'd hidden in his left pants leg and pointed at the big brain guy. "YOU DRAG US OUT TO A PLACE WE HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT AND SPIT THIS KIND OF NONSENSE OUT AT US! "HONORABLE CHILD"?! "KINDRED"?! WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT THAT?! DON'T MIX HIM UP TOGETHER WITH YOU, MONSTERS!"

Everyone looked at Shiro and Griffith as he boldly shouted at them, to which the beings looked at them before one of them the woman placed her wing at her mouth as she laughed. "**Hmhmhmhmhm such a beautiful friendship….. I'm sure you'd make a wonderful sacrifice."**

Shiro then went into shock at what the monster said. "What… sacrifice?"

"**Yes, a precious sacrifice in order to become a demon king."**

Those words did NOT sound good, as many alarm bells began to ring inside Brihanna's mind. "Demon king? Did she say a sacrifice?" she whispered under her breath, but her words caused chills to go down everyone's spines.

Then the small one floated around then spoke. "_**From the moment that scarlet Beherit came into your hands, you were qualified to become a demon king."**_ It explained, pointing one of it' hands down towards the crippled man. Griffith and Shiro looked at the beherit in bewilderment as this was the cause of all of this, though seconds later the creature hummed in thought.."_**No perhaps we should say that you received it, because you are blessed. With the beherit you have summoned us, which proves we are kindred. That's because all the hosts gathered here in this place come into power summoned by the beherit."**_

Shiro and the others looked at the monsters around them, each one still standing throughout their surroundings, waiting for something when Shiro began to figure it out. 'Then they're….. All….. like them?!' he thought, memories flowing through his mind regarding that large winged bull he'd blacked out against.

"_**And that beherit which is in your hand, is no ordinary beherit. It is the one only we guardian angels who can be reborn as the god hand can wield. The scarlet beherit. The egg of the conqueror. And you all are an important sacrifice for the angel's descent."**_

As this was said, those words seemed to trigger the monsters surrounding the villagers, for the monsters began to get riled up as if they were preparing for something sinister. Something that's about to happen people began to think.

'This….. Is no ordinary call…. It's despair!' Shiro thought, gritting his teeth in anger as he now knew what the answer was. "Those monsters… are going to change Griffith?! And exchange for our life?!"

Then the brain monster spoke again. "**THIS IS HIS WILL. HE HAS OFFERED YOU ALL AS A SACRIFICE. ALL HAS BEEN DECIDED, YOUR LIVES WERE WOVEN TO MEET THIS POINT. SO WE SHALL HOLD THE "CEREMONY OF THE COMING LORD.""**

Then the monster who had its hand together spread it and opened its eye.

"**Honorable child, rise to the altar."**

RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE!

"NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIGH-NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIGH!"

"?!"

The following second, a low rumbling sound filled the air as beneath Shiro, Griffith and the other Band of the Hawks a bunch of faces began to rise upwards. From a bird's eye view it looked more like a wart forming on one of the many large faces filling the landscape, though this didn't register on anyone's minds thanks to focusing on a much more important priority: retaining their balance. Something which many failed spectacularly as they began to fall off to the wayside save for two people:

Griffith and Shiro.

"Shiro! Griffith!"

"Shiro, buddy! Sir!"

Brihanna and Jamal cried out together as they tried to reach out for them, but the two had been too far away and they both had fallen too far from the rapidly growing hill. A hill which was also starting to enlarge and widen itself from its base as Shiro and Griffith struggled to hold on, especially the latter whose body was so weak that he could only resort to relying on the strength of the former as the whole hill (although at this point the ability to call it such became debatable, but it wasn't like either cared at this point) kept getting bigger, bigger and bigger.

Eventually, Shiro cursed when he accidentally lost his footing during the thing's rapid ascension, causing him to quickly lose his balance and begin falling backwards. "Shit!" He bit out, quickly reaching out for Griffith's left hand to which the man tried his best to respond as well…

Only for the tips of their fingers to just barely graze one another.

"Fuck!"

Another curse escaped Shiro's lips as he reared the Knife back and stabbed it into the side of the now arm-like structure, the male figuring this out due to the multiple finger-like digits that had formed up top. He only managed to partially slow his fall at first, but eventually he came to a halt to where he could look upwards.

Though, back on the ground things kept getting increasingly unstable, with the various creatures around the villagers chanting 'invocation of doom' over and over. Normal civilians trembled in terror, losing their ability to remain calm as, worse in their minds, they had nowhere to run due to being completely surrounded by them. Some Children cried like little whiny bitches, though considering that they were that, kids, especially ones who weren't used to the life of orphan children, that would be understandable. The ones who helped keep them in line would be the various guards as the Captain hurriedly kept giving out orders to his men, showing that despite his earlier actions he could still keep his head on straight.

None of this fazed Brihanna and Jamal though, as they looked up anxiously towards the top of the massive arm, where in their eyes both Griffith and Shiro still remained. 'You two… please be safe…' they both thought.

Up on top of the hand, Griffith sat within the hand's centre, literally in the palm of the massive hand. On top of each of the five digits, stood the four massive creatures, overlooking the crippled man like they were judges and he were a court victim.

Yet. as he trembled there like a leaf in the cold winter, the one with the massive brain began to speak, bringing up the fear being displayed here. "**ARE YOU AFRAID? ONE SUCH AS YOURSELF? OF EXTRAORDINARY BEINGS LIKE US? OR THE PATH THAT YOU WILL FOLLOW?"**

Of course, without a tongue, Griffith couldn't really say anything to respond to that, but his eyes told them everything that they needed to know, to which the smallest one floated on down to his kneeling form with his grin ever the wide one. It floated upside down as it held a hand up as a matter of factly. "_**Before we enter the future… lets take a look at the foundation of your past. Then you shall know what it is that you really are."**_

After saying this, the creature locked it's gaze with Griffith's own, it's glasses-like eyes swirling like vortexes of what looked like mist which then served to take on physical shapes… to which Griffith began to see things. Things which he had long since stopped thinking about on his path.

And he remembered.

He remembered growing up in a village just like this one as a small child, he remembered how miserable and poverty-stricken the conditions had been. Perhaps that was why the Band of the Hawk had consisted of a lot of people from backgrounds similar to that, because in a way they had been like him, people with dreams for their futures which they had not the ability to obtain, due to a lack of any actual 'power'. Power which Griffith had been so close to obtaining until something 'changed'.

But, in his case, what had kept Griffith going back then had been the sight of a large castle, one which had been considered a 'Church' by the general populace. He remembered how he would always stare at it from a distance longingly, for it represented something that he desperately wanted: a home to call his own, a kingdom where he would be on top… a place of POWER. Power that would have rightfully belonged to him, it's king. But, by the time he had been scouted by the people called 'Exorcists' back then, Griffith's goals had already moved on from just simply staring at that 'castle' he had envisioned in his youth for so long.

He remembered it all…

As the brain man then spoke, its voice booming throughout the atmosphere. "**THAT IS YOUR DREAM, AIMING FOR A VILLAGE IN THE SKY, CONTINUE TO PILE UPON THOSE BODIES. THAT IS WHO YOU ARE. ABOVE THOUSANDS OF YOUR COMRADES BODIES, BUILT UPON TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YOUR ENEMY'S BODIES, AND THOSE THAT ARE NEITHER AND ABOVE THE NAMELESS BODIES, COME TREADING UPON THEM FOR ONLY ONE DESIRE, YOUR DREAM. NOW ALL OTHER PATHS HAVE BEEN SEVERED."**

Following this, the woman also started speaking as she waved her hand at the villagers. "**Look now, together flying with you, the wings of a hawk, those feathers, they tremble with terror as they look up at you with their pure eyes. The end of the journey smelling of blood. This is the last thing left to you. They will forgive you. Even though now they are in despair, they'll welcome you warmly won't they? And you will live, leaving your injured body to them, returning everything from the past. Bury them in the ruins of your dream."**

'Ruins…. Of my dream…. That is the punishment of the God created by man...' Griffith mentally said as the brain man then pointed at the illusion of a great village that Griffith dreamed about.

Following this, the brain man then conjured a green symbol that looks like a straight eight but with a line going in the middle of it and the top was the three lines almost close to each other. "**CONTINUE TO BUILD, USE ALL YOU HAVE LEFT. MAKE A SINGLE CHANT, "THIS I SACRIFICE." ONLY THEN, SHALL YOU RECEIVE WINGS OF JET-BLACK, SO THAT YOU MAY BE CARRIED TO HEAVEN. FATE TRANSCENDS HUMAN INTELLECT. IF THAT IS THE NATURE OF TRUTH, IT IS THE INEVITABLE RESULT IF THE CHILDREN RESIST FATE WITH EVIL."**

"GRIFFITH!"

Shiro shouted at Griffith, having just reached the top of the hand alter. Hearing his sole shout, Griffith slowly turned his head to face the boy known as Shiro, an irregular existence to him, as he mentally went on a bit of a tangent. 'Among thousands of comrades and then thousand enemies, only you were at my side at this very moment Shiro… you were the best friend I had met, yet also the one who made me…... forget my dream.' Griffith thought, and as if those words were some sort of spell, Griffith then spoke two damning words with determine as Shiro ran to him.

"I... sacrifice."

With those very words, the giant hand then went to Griffith closing itself around him right before Shiro could get to Griffith. "GRIFFITH!" the boy called out to him, though it would only be in vain.

All the while, the big brained creature raised its voice once again, sounding nonchalant yet with a hint of having expected this outcome, with it's following words starting to send the Demons into a bit of a frenzy. "**NOW, THE THREADS THAT BIND THE LAWS OF CAUSALITY HAVE NOW BEEN TIED." **It then spread its hand as the symbol was floating. "**THE PROMISED TIME HAS COME."**

After proclaiming this, the symbol spewed out many lines, showering it's surroundings whilst the line went onto many villagers, implanting themselves onto their bodys, branding the very same symbol that the brain monster conjured. One went onto Shiro's left neck, Brihanna's top left of her chest, Jamals hand and many others. Heck, the Captain found one placed on his cheek, with some of the soldiers getting some on their arms and legs. As soon as the symbols had engraved themselves onto their bodies, the monsters then started to go to them preparing to unleash the horror and nightmare they and the elders has inflicted on them

"GUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!"

Finally, like some kind of trigger got pulled, the Monsters all began to surge forth towards the villagers, surging across the warped ground like a flood of fangs, claws and Tendrils. The Guards, villagers and the Band of the Hawk Members quickly cried out at this, with the Guards having formed a proper defensive line around the gathered civilians… although the sounds of dying screams in the distance implied that some of the Villagers hadn't gathered here… a mistake they paid for with their lives.

"Men! Don't let them near the civilians!" The Captain proclaimed, throwing out a hand as the Guards engaged the creatures, frantic yells and loud battle cries filling the air thanks to them. Although, the battle (if it could even be called that) soon turned against them, becoming more of one big slaughterfest thanks to the sheer numbers that were launched against the guards. Both outnumbered, and outsized, not a good combination for them which was something that the Captain saw for himself as his men got quite literally ripped apart limb by limb.. He gritted his teeth as he held his sword and charged forth, yelling the following. "Protect our lands! Guard our people-GUARGH!"

However, to his shock and that of the villagers alongside the mercenaries, a creature that looked like a mix between a spider and a humanoid burst out the ground, using it's various appendages to impale him in all his vital areas, his armour pretty much providing non-existent defence against the superior creature's assault. It didn't take long for the creature to then pull its limbs apart, separating the Guard into multiple pieces before chowing down on him, the sight horrifying the remaining Guards who soon met a similar fate…

Right as the monsters proceeded to move onto the terrified Villagers.

* * *

'This is… a Massacre… a unilateral slaughter...' Brihanna thought as she quickly helped Jamal organize a defensive position for the small merc group, knowing that they could only try to hold out for as long as possible since there wasn't anywhere they could run at this point. Some of the villagers tried to run towards them in the desperate hope that they would be protected, however those poor sods soon found themselves being chowed down on by a bunch of smaller monsters who had capitalized on their pathetic cowardice. Not like they would have helped them anyways since they no longer saw the villagers as worth helping at this point. Though, as she saw the creatures feeding on helpless men, women and children with gusto alongside ravenous glee, with dot-sized eyes, she soon found herself changing her stance. 'No… it's not that… its a feast… a feast of blood, and we're on the menu…'

But… why? Was this… real?

Why were they… in this kind of place, originally…?

Up atop the closed hand, Shiro overlooked the carnage happening down below with horrified and downright disbelieving eyes. He didn't understand what was going on at all, part of him wishing that this was just some strange hallucination and that this wasn't happening in reality. However, the boy's instincts told him otherwise, not to mention the faint growling in the back of his mind confirmed this to be true, no matter how hard he tried to deny it. "The hell…? This is a bloodbath…"

"**WHAT HAS NOW BEEN ENGRAVED ONTO YOUR FLESH IS THE BRAND OF SACRIFICE. THE LIVES OF THOSE WHO ARE ENGRAVED WITH IT… ARE OUR DEMONIC OFFERINGS. TO THE LAST DROP OF BLOOD. TO THE MOMENT OF AGONIZING DEATH." **The big brained creature declared, it's voice sounding like rusted metal pipes grating right next to his ears even if the speaker had been far from him. Shiro cringed at this, rubbing the brand on his neck which currently burned with a searing agony, the flesh around it having reddened whilst blood trailed down from several parts of it. "**THEY BECOME FOOD… FOR THE NEW CHILD OF DARKNESS."**

As it said this, Shiro instantly figured out who they meant and turned towards the closed hand, where Griffith lay concealed within. Processing the words in his mind, they got met with immediate denial as a snarl escaped his lips, Shiro marching back to the hand's closed digits which were made out of dozens of humanoid faces. He reared the knife in his right hand backwards, then began stabbing away at it. "Just wait…" he whispered, repeatedly stabbing away at the faces in an attempt to try and dig through them to reach his goal. "Just wait, Griffith, I'll get you out of there…"

Such actions rendered an amused snort from some of the overlooking creatures, the big brained one shaking it's head slightly though other than that it remained emotionless. "**IT'S USELESS. THE STRENGTH OF MAN WILL NO LONGER PREVAIL."** It said, looking down on Shiro as he struggled with his task… or to be more specific, his actions yielded no progress at all.

A faint chuckle of amusement came from the small one as it grinned mockingly at Shiro from above. "_**Besides, you are mistaken if you think you're saving him. This is what he wanted from the beginning."**_

"...Shut up…"

This time, after Shiro muttered those words the sole female creature giggled as she sighed in a euphoric manner. "**You should have been able to hear it… what he definitely said last…"**

"...Shut up… I'M TELLING YOU TO SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

CLANG!

A rage-empowered stab was launched by a furious Shiro, the blade snapping off the knife's hilt to be sent flying up into the air. It spun like a wheel, almost hitting the smallest one with the glasses infused into their faces. Making a frustrated snort, Shiro resorted to trying to punch the blockade in front of him, gritting his teeth angrily. "There's no way he'd do that…" he sneered, growling… though, in his mind he DID indeed hear what Griffith had made to say back there. But to him, he just believed that to be some delusional shit these monsters were putting him under, that had just GOT to be what that was. He just couldn't see someone whom he'd come to trust so much, an adult whom he'd admired and saw as unlike the majority to the point where he'd let Griffith help him further brutalize his sword style, as someone who would say something like that of his own accord.

There was something that Griffith had once told him about actually, that regardless of social standing or class, there were people who could send the world into action through their own merits. They were considered to be the 'true elite' as if chosen by the golden rule of the universe itself, resulting in them having power that could only be described as godly.

So, to Shiro, hearing of the possibility that Griffith had willingly chosen this…

'Was this… was this what you really wanted…?'

Whilst he thought about that, his ears twitched when he heard the sounds of something climbing up the arm, and those sounds caused the growling in his mind to get progressively louder. Shiro, as a result, then looked behind him, noticing a multitude of monsters approaching him whilst muttering something about a sacrifice, something which quickly clued him in to their intentions. Yet, even if he lacked a sword due to having been forced to be apart from it beforehand, as well as only possessing a broken Knife, Shiro still didn't feel like submitting to being torn apart today. No, he absolutely REFUSED to, his bestial pride and despite to spill their blood in righteous retribution refused to allow that to happen. Therefore, Shiro let out a loud roar as he jumped forth, leaping towards his multitude of opponents like a madman.

Though, unbeknownst to him save for the observing creatures above, something began to manifest behind him, a silhouette of sorts which caused them to pause…

A large, black beast with a glowing crimson outline, as well as a matching pair of hollow crimson eyes shaped like lightning bolts.

* * *

As Shiro was facing off with the monsters up above, Jamal and Brihanna raced together while trying to escape from the monsters that were pursuing them, the majority of their comrades in the Band of the Hawk having been mostly massacred and devoured by now. Suddenly, one appeared in front of them with the intent to eviscerate them, only for Jamal to take out his sword and slash at it before it could get a hold of Brihanna. Not a second later, another one managed to close in on them forcing Jamal to throw a knife at it, making it lose its footing before Brihanna looked to the right and tried to warn him. "Jamal to the right!"

But it was too late as it bit his arm, causing him to cringe in fiery pain. "JAMAL!" Seeing her friend in this state, Brihanna then took out another knife from behind Jamal and stabbed the offending creature, forcing it back from the pain that the stab had generated, before they got ahead of it. "Jamal you alright?"

Seeing the state of his arm, Jamal winced to himself, knowing that even if he survived this, that arm was likely never going to be of any use ever again. "I'll…. Live." he muttered, but the complexity in his voice about that statement remained lost to the dark skinned girl.

Meanwhile, when Brihanna took a look at his bitten arm, she saw how it had begun losing blood fast, prompting her to start showing an increasing level of concern for him. "Jamal…" she whispered.

Though, the man shook his head again and tried to placate the girl's worry some more. "I said I'll live, this is nothing to me." he tried to assure her...

Though judging by how she looked at him in disbelief before shaking her head, he hadn't done a good job. Perhaps he had known that it would have been fruitless to comfort her given the situation, but he had tried anyways. "Nothing? Look at it, it's useless! Everywhere we go! Everywhere they come and chase us! There's no way out!"

"Shut up Brihanna! You'll bite your tongue, remember fight till you die! We'll be together no matter what happens! Besides isn't that what we promised?" he told her, firmly whilst trying to keep his cool himself knowing that they couldn't afford to be reckless at this stage in the game. If they had… well, the consequences were all around them.

Brihanna looked at Jamal with a stunned face before she regained her confidence before increasing the speed of the horse they'd been riding on, one which they had found during the chaos unfolding around them.

However, things turned even further downhill in the following seconds. As they tried to flee from the horrors behind them, underneath the floor a monster suddenly appeared, prompting them to form startled reactions as they tried to change the direction, but it was too late. As in, it opened it's large maw and bit off the horse's legs, causing it to neigh in pain as it's riders fell to the ground while jamal tried to lessen the damage on Brihanna, even as the horse got devoured by the demon.

"Guh!"

"JAMAL!"

As Brihanna put her hand on his back they sensed something behind them as they looked and saw a monster standing with two legs, no arm and eyes at the head when it split two showing tentacles. It swung its tentacle as jamal covered Brihanna when it stabbed his injured arm.

"Gaah!"

"Jamal! Don't worry!"

The monster continued to swing as Jamal covered her to take the damage as she tried to get off of him. "No you idiot… Don't do this!" she tried to say, but her words went on unheard whilst Jamal still covered her, not moving from his place as he continued to receive more wounds. "Get off please! If you go on like this… then you'll-"

SCHINK!

Before she could say any more, the sound of flesh being torn filled the air as two Tentacles pierced through his chest as she looked in horror when he protected Brihanna, as she put her hand at Jamals cheek. "To the very end…" He took out a knife as he held on the tentacle that pierced him. "Till the very end…. We'll stick together no matter what!" He threw his knife at the creature precisely at its eye as Brihanna broke the hold on Jamal as she took the fallen sword and ran at the creature, slashed and killed it.

Once she saw that it's not moving she dropped her sword and ran to Jamal as she can tell he doesn't have that much time. "My….. last knife.."

"Don't speak, please we have to cover your wounds."

"Ha… it's….. Alright."

"How….. HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT, YOU IDIOT?! WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE TOGETHER TO THE VERY END WE PROMISED THAT!"

"Heh, maybe for me….. But not you….. And Shiro."

"HOLD ON ,PLEASE!"

Brihanna pleaded to Jamal as she could see that he was losing so much blood and breathing as he put his hand on her cheek as she smiled. "You know…. I'm glad… to see… you…. And Shiro….. For the last… time." Jamal closed his eyes as he was not breathing as she tried to shake him before knowing that he was dead. She closed her eyes trying not to leak out more tears as she took the sword and saw that the monsters were in front of her.

As she saw them advance towards her, white hot rage filled the inside of her, overruning the fear and switching her response from 'flight'... to fucking 'FIGHT'! "Alright then, if this is the case... COME HERE THEN, YOU FUCKERS!"

With that, a fierce war cry ripped itself free from her throat as she charged forth, though whilst she remained unaware of it her body briefly 'flashed' with this silvery white aura, though it vanished too quickly to be truly acknowledged by anyone.

* * *

Blood.

Lots of it.

That pretty much became the sole thing that dominated his vision, as crimson droplets surrounded him whilst Shiro jumped onto a charging monster,using his broken knife to sever one of it's horns from it's humanoid body that remained connected to the monstrous true one. Furthermore, he sheathed the knife into his pocket before grabbing the severed horn piece, favouring it for it's sharp tip that he drove into the humanoid face of another monster. He repeated this process by stabbing the faces of other monsters which had tried to eat him, ripping his makeshift weapon free before he jumped off the makeshift platform he had been on, landing before the encircling horde.

He could hardly even tell what these things were supposed to resemble in terms of animals, so Shiro had stopped trying and just labelled them as monsters to be slaughtered. Furthermore, Shiro gripped his Horn tightly as he raised it and stabbed it into the face of another monster with a blade like chin, something which caused it to howl in agony as it threw him back, allowing two of its brethren to try and take a bite out of him. However, Shiro recovered in mid air thanks to a loud warning growl in the back of his mind, allowing him to kick one monster with a roundhouse kick before stabbing it in the side of it's head with his Horn. Whilst this did indeed help him land a hit, the monster grew furious, using its larger body to slam into him and sent him flying backwards.

Nevertheless, Shiro once more landed on the face-made hand and charged right back into the fray, his vision filled with red as roars filled both his mind as well as escaped his lips.

Up above…

"**Hmhmhmhm… the boy does do his best…" **Watching the show with growing amusement, and a mildly impressed tone of voice, the female monster held her chin thoughtfully as her gaze seemed to be trying to strip the boy of his clothes alone with various images in her head… images that should not be pondered on for the time being. "**It's ironic though… the stronger his life force… the greater his anguish… the more they become precious bread for the child of darkness…" **She then looked down, alongside her observing brethren, towards the digits which held the transforming human within their depths. "**Sweet dreams… blessed child… Until now, you've had a dream called 'Griffith'. When that dream ends, you will awaken… into a dream from which you will never wake, into a night which will never break…" **

Back down with Shiro, the boy continued to fight against his many enemies, slowly being forced to realize that in the end, his stamina wasn't infinite and that he was fighting a losing battle. Even his bloodlust-ridden mind could tell that there was no end to these mongrels, these abominations of life that were trying to claim his flesh for their own. No matter how many he impaled with his makeshift horn, no matter how many foes he knocked away through sheer strength and willpower, Shiro couldn't help but feel like the end will inevitably come for him, that he was just prolonging the inevitable…

Well, he would fuck that ending anyways!

Shiro REFUSED to die here like some lowly dog food meant to feed a bigger beast. He REFUSED to lay down his head here after a lifetime of struggling to get what he had wanted, that just WASN'T what his blood would allow him to do, and he didn't want to either. Nothing would stop him from fighting on, not the many injuries that spread across his battered body, his clothes pretty much shredded rags at this point, not even the desperate pleas his body's nerves sent him for rest and recovery (not like there was anywhere for him TO rest, anyways).

…

…

…

…

…

… yet, deep down, amidst the bloodshed and the maddening howls both human and inhuman alike, Shiro began to wonder why this was despite himself.

Why?

Why did he strive so hard?

What did he live for?

It wasn't like he had a purpose that he could call his own, all he'd been doing was helping others with their goals.

Jamal…

Brihanna…

Griffith.

Each of them had goals of their own, dreams which they wanted to achieve no matter what. It wasn't the first time Shiro had wondered this as he was once again knocked towards the closed fingers again, in fact he had wondered it many times over the course of the Band of the Hawk's glorious crusade. It had been something which had been bugging him for so long now, that he'd simply gotten used to it, the confusion that is.

But for now, just like he had many times before, Shiro pushed all thoughts that didn't concern how to survive the next blow out of his mind, knowing that if he stalled for even a second then these fucking beasts would just capitalize on that to take a chunk out of him… or more ideally for them, his whole flesh.

Eventually, after stabbing through this large, winged monstrosity through the chest, Shiro hissed when several appendages smacked away at him as the winged beast howled in pain from it's wound, knocking him up into the air and down towards the horde of monsters below. He would have just landed and continued fighting like multiple other instances during the battle where this had happened, but then Shiro noticed that he was falling down towards one which had already opened it's massive maw wide in preparation to devour him. Something which made Shiro bite back a curse as he immediately took action.

He did so by flipping forward just as the maws snapped together, barely missing him as he used the maw's head to flip forwards, over multiple enemies and on top of another. Shiro then jumped forth, intending to stab at the closest monster with his Horn… only to blink when he noticed he had jumped too far and had wound up descending off the palm he had been battling on.

'Shit!'

Knowing that a fall from over several hundred meters like this would definitely not end well with him, Shiro fell down whilst stabbing his Horn into the arm itself in an attempt to slow his fall, reducing the weight and impact he would have in the next few seconds. He could even hear the sounds of the beasts above starting to descend down the arm after him like the arm was just another plain old horizontal surface to them, causing him to gnash his teeth in annoyance. However, during his descent, Shiro grunted when he lost control over his footing and slipped, accidentally losing his horn in the process which resulted in him trying to find some way of re-establishing his footing… only to tumble horizontally down the rest of the way.

'Shit, this is bad! If I don't slow my fall, soon…!'

SPLASH!

Fortunately for him, Shiro found himself falling inside a bunch of liquid instead of hard ground, something he'd take alongside the burning pain his entire front experienced over being flattened like a pancake. Quickly, the white haired boy looked upwards as he surfaced from the liquid, coughing and gasping for breath. "What the... ? Is this… blood…?" he muttered, until he saw a sight he would NEVER forget for the rest of his days:

Blood.

An ocean of it which expanded across the horizon as far as his eyes could make out. No matter where Shiro looked, he couldn't see anything else, well aside from various dismembered remains from the countless helpless victims of this whole scenario. Remains he could hardly identify due to their horribly mangled states, but judging from their size and what remained of the clothing still attached, he could tell these had once been the guards, with some having once been female villagers and orphan Children.

"... Shit… the fuck… why the fuck did this happen…? How could it…? Where did everything go so… so wrong…?" The white haired boy muttered under his breath, although one might question if he could be called that since his hair had been stained red by the blood of both the monsters he'd slain as well as his recent 'bloodbath' pun unintended.

A warning growl erupted within the back of his mind, to which Shiro looked around to see what had set this 'thing' in the back of his mind off. To be frank, he had gotten used to the growling voice in his head by this point, for it had pulled him out of quite the few scrapes throughout the crusade, not to mention that his gut instincts told him it had a connection to his regular blackouts. Finally however, he found himself looking at what had caused the growl in the first place, and if his skin hadn't been pale before with all the horror flowing through him like blood, then it CERTAINLY did right then.

For there, floating amidst the pool of blood…

Was a motionless Brihanna, floating within the bloody ocean like an unconscious sailor having survived a hurricane.

"BRIHANNA!"

Upon seeing her, Shiro quickly got to his feet, forgetting about everything else to check on his childhood friend to see if she was still alive. Approaching her body in a quick jog, Shiro kneeled beside her before picking her up bridal style, noticing that she had been stripped bare with her body covered in VICIOUS looking scars. Although, judging by how her surroundings were filled with various corpse parts, he figured she had been in an intense fight to the point where she'd managed to deal a lot of damage to these beasts… though, he almost lost it and screamed to the heavens with all the sorrow and pain he felt inside when he noticed the mangled corpse of his other friend, Jamal.

At least Brihanna had been alive, Shiro discovered when he kneeled and placed his right ear over where her heart was located, becoming relieved when he heard a faint heartbeat. 'She's alive… oh, thank god…' he thought to himself, sighing with more relief than he would ever care to admit.

BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-BIKI!

His relief became short lived however, when he heard the sounds of moving flesh nearby which caused him to look up. His eyes hardened with a vengeful fury as he clutched his friend's unconscious form tightly, seeing all sorts of monsters circling around him from the immediate vicinity. He could hardly describe them all, but they covered both the ground as well as the skies above, with many of them still sporting various body parts from those whom they had killed. Heads in mouths, arms and legs jutting out, there were just too many to count…

Prompting Shiro to remember everything that he'd gone through with them up till this point.

'That… that's is fucking it…' The boy thought as his hair shadowed his eyes, his teeth gnashing together so hard that they could have cracked and shattered at any second. He held Brihanna tightly to his chest, which remained somewhat covered by his rags save for his right shoulder and pec, his pants covering his legs to just above the kneecap. His body, littered with bruises, cuts and looked to be drenched in the blood of countless, looked so inhuman that it was hard to distinguish him from the rest of them. 'No more… no more of this!'

No more would he think about his purpose. What it was that he strove for, what it was that should define his existence. Nope, not happening anymore. Why? Because he had just fucking found it amidst the endless ocean of carnage, slaughter and malicious desire to rip these fuckers apart.

Hunt.

Kill.

Rip.

Tear.

Slash.

Thrust.

Rend.

Devour.

The simplest words which Shiro knew… THEY were his purpose. All these beasts, no human would ever hope to beat them, so in that case, he would become a beast himself. Monsters existed in all sorts of different forms, something which Shiro knew for a fact, but no matter what he had never really been able to do anything concrete against them as a human… Then what about another beast? 'Yeeeaaaaahhhhh… that's right. That feels more like a concrete answer. As a human, i'm nothing but these fuckers food, meant to be used as some sacrifice for some damned ritual… but what about a beast? Yeah, I'll do that… beasts need fangs though, and I have plenty of them. I'll just rip their faces off, tear out their limbs and utterly RIP, TEAR, and SHRED THESE MONSTERS TO FUCKING PIECES!

BA-BUMP!

"?!"

All of a sudden, a pulse shot through Shiro when he made the following declaration, causing him to gasp as he stumbled forces, slightly surprising some of the monsters whilst the others kept moaning 'sacrifice' over and over. That surprise didn't last long though, as one of them began to advance on Shiro's position, one shaped like a serpent with various spikes protruding forth from it.

Just as it made to strike at him though…

SQUELCH!

A loud shriek escaped it as each of the monsters became stunned, shambling backwards in bewilderment at what was going on here. For there, standing with a fellow sacrifice in it's puny arms… was Shiro. Though, changes had been made to his form.

Changes such as the long, black 'thread' like appendages with a crimson outline, crimson energy crackling along their form, forms which looked to have been made from some sort of dark matter which had burst forth from his back as he hunched over, head hanging low so his hair concealed his eyes. One such thread had shot forth and pierce through the serpent, tearing out it's beating heart and protruding out it's back with its trophy. The tip itself showed itself to be razor sharp, as it got lowered to drop the heart whilst it retracted back to it's maker, the other threads whipping through the air and slicing the heartless monster into pieces.

At that point, Shiro raised his head, showcasing his hollow crimson eyes which blazed with malicious intent.

"GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!"

SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!

A loud roar escaped Shiro's lips, a roar sounding like it came from not a human but a blood thirsty beast furious at something for harming it's mate or something, whilst the Threads burst forth into action as the rest of the monsters charged in for the kill. A kill which proved itself to be much harder than anything the other mortals could have put up as the threads ripped through their flesh like hot knives through butter. They hacked, slashed, thrusted and ripped apart indiscriminately, adding gallons of monster blood to the already vast ocean beneath them whilst also mixing it up with various body parts.

The wielder of such Threads didn't remain idle either, how could he when he had such a precious piece of Cargo with him? Even as he growled and grunted like a feral animal whilst the Threads did their work, Shiro would dash through the area with speed and strength he didn't even realize he had, though the boy hardly cared at this point. All he cared about was to make these foul beasts pay DEARLY for what they did, taking everything away from him like they had:

Jamal.

Griffith.

The Band of the Hawk.

Everyone's dreams.

Everything.

They did all this. They were the cause of everything in his mind, and as such, Shiro believed they all needed to die.

BRUTALLY.

PAINFULLY.

IN **EVERY **WAY THEY **KNEW THEY FEARED!**

Thus, as he fought his enemies with this newfound power, not even questioning it whilst keeping Brihanna's form close to him, all Shiro thought about was the following: 'KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL… KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-**KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL-KILL!'**

BATHUMP!

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...

...Silence.

All fighting, heck even all motion, halted when that single heartbeat-like sound filled the air, originating from the closed hand. It was as if all time had stopped, like something had happened which demanded the attention of all of creation itself. Something which even included the berserk Shiro who snapped out of it and looked towards the closed hand, shock and confusion written all over his bloodied features whilst the Threads protruding from him (they actually came from his upper body rags) remained in defensive positions. "Huh…? Is that…?"

"**The Birth…"**

"**The fifth blessed king…"**

"**The new Demon King…"**

Several sentences escaped the damaged creatures whose bodies looked to be falling apart, yet their eyes showed nothing but reverence like the state of their bodies didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. That same heartbeat sound kept being heard from within, filling all who heard it with the sense of anticipation, of eagerness for the creatures as well as confusion and a growing dread for the lone human.

Even so, the first to break this silence turned out to be the big brained monster, who spoke with a slightly more reverent tone to it. "**Void." ** it said, and somehow those who heard it knew that it referred to itself just then. The now christened 'Void' then spoke some more, naming the others as well. "**Slan. Ubik. Conrad. Thou art our extension. Our new kinsman to wear the mantle of evil." ** Void proclaimed, glancing idly at the woman, the smallest one and the fattest one when naming them in that specific order, all the while the hand's digits slowly unclenched, revealing trails of blood that had risen up the arm and into what had once been a cocoon… revealing a distinctly humanoid shape. "**The wings of darkness: Femto."**

In response to those words, the humanoid being's 'head' split open, revealing itself as a makeshift helmet reminiscent of the armour the being once wore in a distant past. The being, now wreathed in a humanoid black suit of armour with two large 'wings' flared said appendages, flapping them once in order to take flight into the skies, then shoot downwards like a hawk and land before the crouching Shiro.

Allowing said boy to gaze into the cold, piercing slitted gaze of his once comrade, now a demonic being ust like the monsters who had taken everything from Shiro.

"Grif...fith…"

The boy mumbled his name under his breath, his eyes shaking as his jaw remained open. Seeing him like this, it finally succeeded in doing what Shiro had been desperately trying to deny this whole time, it compounded the harsh truth that Shiro had been refusing to acknowledge: that Griffith HAD done all this. He HAD willingly joined these monsters in exchange for the lives of everyone who had joined him, including his friend Jamal. He could tell this just by looking into those malicious eyes that Griffith now sported. Eyes which bore into his very soul through their locked gazes, the silence almost serving as a mockery for him…

Something which once again ignited the fierce rage that burned within him previously.

A rage which allowed the beast inside to take over once again, as Shiro's eyes turned hollow red once more, the Threads coming out of him combining together into a single long Tendril, it's tip being a large, canine-like snout with two lightning bolt shaped hollow crimson eyes as well as a large maw.

"GRIFFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITH!"

Shiro roared with all his pent up emotion at Griffith, who just stared back at him with a neutral gaze as if he meant nothing to him as the Beast behind Shiro roared at Griffith almost mimicking his rage. Oh, how he SO wanted to rip into that traitorous bastard, but right now there were other matters to address like the one in his arms. Thus, Shiro needed to get out of here quickly, so by natural instinct he launched the Tendril forth past Griffith, towards the hand altar. It reached it's target, stretching as far as it could before Griffith made to use whatever powers he now possessed to stop him.

However, before he could do so, Shiro began to glow in an orange aura, catching the God hand's attention before it vanished seconds later, as Shiro pulled on the Tendril to let it pull him past Griffith faster than he could have reacted, due to him not being used to his new abilities just yet. Not to mention that, whilst Shiro flew thanks to his manoeuvre, Griffith once again tried to stop him by stretching his hand towards him, however it didn't do anything since Shiro had already gotten too far out of range.

Briefly, he used the Tendril and morphed it into it's Threads form again, grabbing onto multiple fingers and using them like a makeshift slingshot, propelled himself and Brihanna upwards towards the Sun, briefly passing the God hand by. None of them tried to stop him though, as they stared at his rising form before he reached the 'sun'. The boy didn't stop there though as he used the last of his strength to combine the threads back into that bestial form from before, then sent it up towards the Sun like a sledgehammer against an armoured chestplate. Thus, with such force behind it, the Sun 'broke' like it was a piece of glass, allowing him to escape the Eclipse with his friend.

Ubiki then laughs "_**Fascinating, so fascinating! How unforeseen.."**_

Slan chuckled as well, her eyes closed with a slight smile on her lips. "**Hmmm. We are not gods, so we cannot see how everything will occur, especially regarding that boy's Sacred Gear. A rather powerful one, yet unseen for some time. But, tell us boy, was this also fated to happen? Either way, time has begun to flow again and the fifth angel has been born."**

"**THE TIME OF DARKNESS IS DESCENDING. AN AGE WHEN THE DARK SHALL ECLIPSE LIGHT SO THAT MAN WILL PERHAPS CALL IT THE AGE OF DARKNESS."**

* * *

Replacing the spot where the village had been, was a massive tornado big enough to fit the whole village. It rose up to the heavens above, causing clouds to circle around it with various sparks of lightning occurring around it. Just by looking at it, one would want to keep as far away from it as possible, with the amount of raw energy that it was exuding, enough to literally bend the space around it to it's will.

Just at the tornado's base however. An eruption of lighting occurred before a pair of people fell out of it, bouncing along the ground multiple times before one slid along the ground on his backside and caught the other in his arms: Shiro and Brihanna, covered in blood, bruises and a LOT of gore. The male held on to the unconscious female with his life, like she would vanish from his sight if he loosened his grip even slightly.

As he panted, the black and red beast above disintegrating into nothingness, Shiro's eyes closed as he fell down to the floor with her right next to him, dancing on the edge between awake and unconscious. 'Ugh… damn… so weak…' the boy thought to himself, wanting to get up and continue moving but his body just refused to listen to him. All it's energy had been spent surviving that… that hellish nightmare, and as such he had none left to spare.

Whilst he breathed heavily in an attempt to regain at least SOME strength, his ears twitched when he heard the sounds of large footsteps heading his way. Internally, he felt his gut wrench at the horrific implications, implications which came true when he saw a shadow enveloping his and Brihanna's bodies, causing him to weakly look upwards to see what it was. To his horror, Shiro saw a beast looming over him, taking the form of a blue-skinned, huge misshapen human, having fiery red eyes and abnormally long tongues. It's body was covered with bristlelike hair. red matted hair and beards, horns, a fat belly, slit like eyes, and as is typical of Indian mythology, and three pairs of arms as he looked at him

**{WELL WELL, JUST WHEN I CAME TO SEE WHERE THIS ENERGY CAME FROM, IT APPEARS IT'S FROM YOU AND THIS TORNADO. I WONDER HOW YOU WILL TASTE LIKE.}**

As Shiro looked at the beast in front of him as he was preparing to kill it before a spear went through its stomach

**{GAAHH URK WHO-?!}**

As it turned around he saw a young man with long and white unkempt hair that almost appeared transparent. His gaze looked sharp like a steel blade with the red stone buried in his chest similarly projecting an enthralling lustrousness. Across his body, he wore a set of golden armor that shimmered in an almost beautiful manner, giving off a sort of divine radiance, something which Shiro felt honestly a bit revolted by since it reminded him of the God Hand. "You will not harm him or the girl, Rakshasa."

The man said only this to the being, a Rakshasa as he called it, before the following happened: he pulled his spear, he then slashed the head as it went down. The man looked at it and the tornado before seeing two teenagers, one having risen to his knees, looking at him and the other was a naked woman, one who lay sprawled unceremoniously down on the ground.

Curious, the man began to move. However, before he could take a few steps forwards, the teenage male's eyes turned hollow red as a black beast with a red outline came out of his back, growling in a warning tone to stop that. The man did so, to which the two stared each other down for a moment, resulting in an intense atmosphere between them. As he stared at it for a few more moments, the man noticed the creature's eyes flash with recognition, to his slight surprise as he had the impression of it lacking intelligence, before the beast retreated back into the boy's body. He looks at the both of them before widening his eyes, seeing similarities between them before his eyes shimmered in concern. "I see….. A sacred gear and a descendent of mine…. Truly ironic these days….. Don't worry, rest now for you have already experienced much hardship."

"Who… are you…. Ahhhhhhh." Shiro finally collapsed from the fatigue and exhaustion he used today.

The man grabbed Shiro and Brihanna on their waist as he then stared at the tornado with a fiery, malicious gaze. "One day God Hand… you will be stopped and the world will be finally free from your presence." After declaring this, the man then activated a magic circle on his feet as it began to float upwards to his head, to which once it did, he and the teenagers began to disappear as if they weren't there.

* * *

**AN:**

**Oh my fucking god this took a long time to do! 34 freaking pages on Google Docs and we're FINALLY finished with the prologue arc, an extremely condensed version of the Berserk Golden Age Arc, but hopefully some things were done decently. Anyways, Hunter here, and here's possibly the biggest chapter so far. We have various things happening throughout this chap, some sweet and wholesome, and others horrific as well as tragic. The Eclipse has happened, and Shiro has lost pretty much everything, yet also gained something in return… and we're not talking about just the Brand of Sacrifice either, although there's that too. Now, here's where the story TRULY begins, as we enter into more DxD related stuff. Hope you like, and I bet none of you thought this was coming. Also, if anyone wants to speculate about what's happening, go ahead, we love to hear your opinions. **

**PEACE OUT!**

**FINALLY IT'S DONE, MOTHERFUCKER ITS DONE!... My name is Darklord brining you another chapter of the story! Now like what hunter said the main event that we were planning is coming so be patient if you want to see how he will survive with the brand of sacrifice. His journey will be involved with some tragedy, drama, gore and action! Alright thank you for reading our story, be sure to leave a review if you want and I'll see you next time!**

**GOOD LUCK!**


	6. Chapter 6

"Uuuuhhhhh….. Where?" Slowly, the stirring of his consciousness got triggered, causing Shiro to slowly return to reality. The boy's eyes tightened further for a brief moment, before they slowly opened once more… though they briefly closed back up again due to an abundance of light that had entered his ocular perception. After a couple seconds though, his eyes adjusted and allowed him to fully open them, to which he followed up by slowly lifting himself into a sitting position and then looking around with a hand over his forehead to gauge his surroundings.

The male found himself in what looked like some sort of medical room, he knew this due to having seen a few areas in his village similar to this during the Crusade. The room itself had rows of beds on both sides, with drawn back curtains which he suspected were more for privacy than anything else. The room itself didn't have that much difference to those which he had grown used to during the Crusade either, although ONE such difference turned out to be that he felt… different, when he looked around this place. He didn't know why he felt the way he did either, but he just did, not to mention there was this sense of calm serenity about it, like in this place so many miracles had happened that the feeling of everything being okay dominated the atmosphere.

Weird.

Looking down at himself after trying to move and wincing at the slight sparks of pain that erupted within him, Shiro saw that he had bandages across various parts of his head, torso and his hands, Some were wrapped horizontally around his Abdomen too, with some scarred flesh peaking out which made Shiro realize that he would be having a scarred body for the rest of his life. Although, compared to what he COULD have ended up like from what he could remember, Shiro believed that this was getting off lightly.

"Ah good, you're awake. Thought you would never wake up."

"?!"

Shiro's eyes widened when he heard a voice close by him, prompting him to very nearly jump out of his skin when he glanced to the right side, finding himself looking towards a person with….. Four arms? He was a bit of a tall, blue skinned man in a get up consisting of a white long jacket that went to his knees, had some kind of equipment he never saw before as one was holding a wood shaped rectangular, an object that had a circle glass and he had both of his arms on his pockets.

Instantly Shiro became on Guard, his form tensing up as he ignored the spikes of pain from his many injuries, all the while glaring heatedly at the man with intense suspicion. "Who are you… are you one of those monsters?" he questioned, remembering the various grotesque monsters that he'd fought for his life against.

Hearing his tone, the man looked taken aback for a moment, to which Shiro noticed a brief flash of annoyance/anger at him which made him go one step away from leaping into action, before it vanished when he made the following realization. "Monsters?... ahhh I see, you speak of those you won against to become a survivor of the Eclipse. Not to worry young man, I'm not one of those monsters, we call them apostles, anyway my name is Dhanvantari the god of medicine."

Momentarily, Shiro blinked in confusion. "A… god?" He muttered, before flashbacks to the Eclipse triggered in his mind and his furious anger resurfaced. To the point where his eyes started to turn red again as a feral growl left his lips. "You mean you're one of the God Hand?!" he yelled, making to move once more.

However, the man stopped him by placing two of his four arms on his shoulders, a stern look on his face. "No unnecessary movements, got it? You wouldn't be able to do much against me anyways…" He began, trailing off as the full implications registered to him which resulted in the man's eyes shining with understanding. "So, you met them, yourself? In that case, I can't say I blame you for that reaction, those things just LOVE to besmirch our name by referring to themselves as Gods… and worse, they have every right to claim as such. Still, let me tell you this: just because I am a god, that does not mean I'm one of those abominations." Shiro looked like he didn't believe that for a second, and to be fair he couldn't be faulted for this. Someone like him believed that actions spoke louder than words, not to mention he'd just been betrayed and manipulated by 'Gods', so he didn't really feel all that trusting at the moment. "So calm down or else I will inject Propofol into you. Your body has had a rough week."

Now THAT got his attention, Shiro's face paling slightly as his jaw became unhinged from the shock that coursed through his system. "A… a week?... That's how long I've slept for?" he questioned barely above a whisper, looking like he struggled to even comprehend this information.

Though with the way that man nodded with such certainty and lack of any signs of deceit pretty much compounded it for him, if the following words didn't do that enough. "Yes, and before you ask, my name's Dhanvantari, nice to meet you, young man. In all frankness though, you were lucky that you and Arjuna's descendents had been only in a near-death state, since many others aren't so lucky. In fact, it was a miracle that you two were even breathing with the amount of injuries you both had, luckily Karna was able to find the two of you." he explained, sitting on top of what looked to Shiro like some sort of stool, although it was hardly like the ones he had grown up seeing.

Once again though, the words that he used caused a wave of confusion to fall onto the white haired boy's shoulders. "Arjuna's descendent...?" He questioned, blinking a couple times as he tried figuring out who he was talking about. Although it only took a couple seconds for him to remember his sole remaining childhood friend whom he'd barely managed to save from falling to the same fate as their comrades during the Eclipse. His eyes widened in alarm at this. "BRIHANNA!"

Upon seeing Shiro make to move again, Dhanvantari held up two right hands in a 'halt' gesture, something he remembered some of the Guards of his former village doing to halt passengers. "She's fine, young man. Indra is making sure that his son's descendent will not be in the afterlife, now if that's all Karna wishes to see you."

With that said, Dhanvantari stood up and proceeded to walk off to the door of the medical room, two hands in his jacket pockets whilst the other two remained crossed over his chest. As he opened the door, the man saw someone on the other side whom he seemed to nod in respect towards, according to Shiro's observations, before he stepped aside to let that someone into the medical room. That someone, to Shiro's surprise as Dhanvantari left the Medical Room, turned out to be the man who he barely recalled seeing killing that thing... Rakshasa, he remembered it's name being.

'Its… him…' Shiro thought to himself, wariness filling him up. Right now, it became obvious to him that this was the man who had not only rescued him and Brihanna, but had also brought him to wherever this place was. Even if Dhanvantari hadn't told him this, Shiro would have figured it out from what he had recalled before he had lost consciousness, he may have not been the naturally smartest tool in the shed, but he had forced himself to wisen up in order to be a better leader to his men back during the Crusade. Something which sparked more memories for him thanks to the multiple references he'd made to that time which resulted in pangs of pain, sadness and rage to erupt inside his heart.

Whilst he thought about all this, Shiro looked at Dhanvantari who he'd seen making some small conversation, before the other man went to the bed of which the white haired boy currently sat in. Although, now that he got a proper look at him, Shiro couldn't help but be bewildered to see someone who had almost the exact same face as him (minus the different hairstyle) since he hadn't seen anyone like him in his Village. Not to mention that he had been insulted many times at this point, people having said he was the only one of his 'ilk' in the world. Finally, the man whom Shiro probably owed his life to, sat by his side on the same stool which Dhanvantari had been using, looking mildly relieved upon looking him over. "My descendent, it's good to see you still breathing." he remarked, an exhale leaving his nose.

"Descendent? You're talking as if you're older than me." Shiro responded in confusion, tilting his head and wondering why he was calling him that. The word 'descendent' was a new one for him, even though as he thought about his few interactions with Nobility Shiro recalled that word being thrown about as a form of boasting and ego-improvement. "You don't even look like an old man to me."

At this, the man made a point of chuckling in amusement to these words, looking like he found them particularly interesting for some reason. "Hmhmhmhm, true I would be an old man, but the reason why I call you my descendent was because you belong to my line, Surya's line to be exact. In a way let's just say I'm long lost family member to you."

"... what a coincidence I never get to meet my family instead I find a young looking man that should be my great grandfather." Shiro mused, looking down at the bedsheets over his lower body in contemplation.

Something which the older looking white haired version of him seemed to agree with him on. "Truly ironic, isn't my descendent? I never thought I would get to see my line still going."

After a moment's worth of silence and deliberating internally, Shiro decided to take the plunge and question the two adults in the room. "... how is Brihanna?" He asked. As much as he distrusted adults in general, with the one who he had thought different from the rest turning out to be just like them, Shiro didn't think too positively of trusting them. Still, despite his reservations and deep-seated issues, he wasn't idiotic enough to not gather intel when it was necessary. He wouldn't have lasted NEARLY as long as he had if he didn't.

Dhanvantari, who stood on the opposite side of the bed, took this chance to speak as he looked solemnly at him. "Well she is fine, young man, but the trauma and her injuries have taken a toll on her meaning that she is in a coma." he explained.

His words left Shiro in a state of silent shock, those words almost like an echo that went into the depths of his mind and filled him with waves upon waves of varying emotions.. "A... coma?" he questioned, not knowing what that word meant and becoming confused. Not just with the word itself, but also why he felt the way he did about it.

Looking at him for a moment, Dhanvantari then shifted his gaze towards the other man. "... where did you find him Karna?" he questioned.

To which the man, Karna as Shiro now knew his name being, responded with a solemn look on his face. "At a remote place in India. Looks like it has quite the bit of Apostle Presence there. We should have realized what was going on… why we didn't is likely because of the God Hand themselves, like multiple times before."

His explanation caused the apparent medical professional to nod his head in understanding. "Ahh, that makes sense." he replied, wincing at the implications Karna had told him about whilst looking back at the confused Shiro. "A coma is a state of deep unconsciousness that lasts for a prolonged or indefinite period. It could take days, months or years to even wake up, even I don't know despite being a god of medicine."

As he heard this, Shiro looked down, a new level of understanding towards that word filling him and increasing the impact of the horror he felt inside. Brihanna… his sole childhood friend left in this world, was in a Coma? He remembered what they had talked about when she had admitted her sexuality to him, of how scared she had been in admitting it to Shiro as well as how relieved she'd been when he'd told her how he had felt about it. Now, back then he had said those things because he didn't want her to feel even the SLIGHTEST bit of discomfort with herself around him, it just felt wrong of him as her companion to have such a stigma on their relationship, not to mention that his words about it being okay with him for her to indulge in her fantasies even if they ended up dating… at the time, he didn't realize it but those words had much more meaning to them than he himself had known. That had to be the best explanation he could think of in regards to how utterly DEVASTATED he felt inside, knowing the truth about his friend. No… was she even his friend, or was she something more than that? Shiro didn't know… but for a while, he likely wouldn't be able to find out.

Such a thing, combined with everything else, caused Shiro to grit his teeth tightly as he gripped the bedsheets in a similar manner. "... Griffith. I swear I'll kill you for this. I swear it." He whispered under his breath, hsi eyes gaining a faint red glow.

Something which Karna and Dhanvantari both noticed and noted down in their minds with the former humming in acknowledgement, drawing the younger white haired boy's fiery gaze. "Hmmmmm, you will in time, my descendent. You will be able to get your revenge in time, but right now you're weak compared to the God Hand, my descendent. You do not know this, but the God Hand are quintumvirate of demon sovereigns who, aas the most powerful of demonkind, reign over Apostles as their masters and are responsible for granting normal Beherit bearers their reincarnated status of being, in exchange for a sacrifice. They've orchestrated many significant events that have largely affected the course of humanity, and are our primary enemy." he explained.

Taking this information in, Shiro summarized it in his mind that he was simply not strong enough to deal with any of them yet. Something which deep down, as much as he didn't want to admit it, was the truth since he couldn't do much to save his comrades except Brihanna. Not only that, but Shiro realized that he had next to no information about the enemy other than what Karna had told him, so hunting them down would be a pain, not to mention that each Apostle seemed to have had their own quirks to them according to what he had experienced when fighting them during that Eclipse. "Then what should I do?" he asked slowly, trying to keep his frustration level with his mind running simulations for what he'd do to Griffith and the God Hand once he got strong enough.

Motivation for the future, he'd say.

At this, Karna had a simple answer, one which he had been waiting to say since the moment he had heard that the boy known as Shiro had awakened. "Simply join our faction, we have been fighting them for so many years, the more help we get, the faster we can destroy the God hand." he suggested.

Although, as Karna had expected, Shiro didn't look like he had… much enthusiasm over the idea of joining someone else again and being used as a damn pawn. Something which reminded him WAY too much of what had happened up to the Eclipse. "... what makes you think that I would willingly join you? As far as I can tell, how will I know that you won't backstab me? You call yourselves Gods, just like the so-called God Hand…" Shiro questioned, narrowing his eyes at the two.

Again, he saw flames of anger burn within Dhanvantari's eyes as he made to say something, something which could have formed a grudge within the white haired teen, but Karna had glanced at the four-armed man which had prompted him to stop. Afterwards, Karna turned his gaze back to Shiro who, to his internal surprise, saw nothing but understanding underneath a layer of seriousness in those orbs of his. "We take our words very seriously, and we promise to not even betray you. the word backstab leaves a very bad taste for us."

"... will any of you get in the way of my revenge?"

"No, you have the right to even get angry at those God Hand. They have destroyed so many lives in this world, more than you can even imagine with many of them ending up worse than Arjuna's Descendent. If you kill even one of them, then everyone would be grateful to you. For now, rest and think about our decision, when you think about our answer let me or Dhanvantari know."

With his piece said, Karna and Dhanvantari went out of the medical room as Shiro was then left alone, recalling what his….. 'Ancestor' had told him. On one side, if he joined them, then he could get his revenge on those God Hand. But, the downside was that he doesn't know if they would betray like the last time he was in the band of the hawk. But, even with his distrust of adults Shiro saw it as a FACT that they had saved not just his life, but also Brihanna's so in a way he had a debt to pay.

This contributed to him making his decision, but by no means would he lower his guard. Shiro refused to allow himself to be betrayed so badly ever again.

* * *

**Timeskip - five years **

5 years passed like they weren't there, five years since God Hand had devastated Shiro and Brihanna.

In these past years, Shiro had decided to join the Hindu pantheon to enact his revenge on the God Hand, but true to his word he still hadn't built any trust in anyone within the Pantheon that easily. No way would he make the mistake of letting his guard down again, except for his ancestor Karna but even then that had been due to there being an actual connection between them combined with the debt that he owed him for saving both him as well as his last surviving childhood friend. Aside from him though, Shiro had no other attachments in the Hindu Pantheon, no it was more like he absolutely REFUSED to form other attachments to them, seeing Gods as beings who proved themselves untrustworthy alongside his cautious behaviour.

Not to mention that the scars he'd gotten from the eclipse, the mental ones, still plagued him like it had only happened yesterday, their physical manifestation being the Brand of Sacrifice on his neck which would have… an interesting effect mostly at night time. Made him aware of just how vast the God Hand's reach was every time, something which grinded at Shiro's gears and made him spend entire nights fighting for his life. Worse still, his ancestor had no way of counteracting the Brand's effects, resulting in Shiro constantly attracting spirits and Demons to him like he was a flame and the Apostles' moths.

Speaking of his ancestor though, Karna had decided that Shiro needed some immense training to build up the strength he would need for his quest for vengeance. As such, he had taken him for training on wielding a spear, the boy having decided to not use a sword anymore since it would remind him of Griffith whenever he wielded one. In the end, after becoming proficient enough with the Spear to the point where he could hold out against Karna for a decent time length, the ancient man had ordered a Spear be made for Shiro's own personal use, one which would compliment his skillset. To that end, his Spear was made by Vishwakarma, a God of Architecture, maker of all the divine artifacts in the Hindu pantheon. The Spear had received the name 'Kurogane', a spear which could almost be considered as like Vasavi Shakti, Karna's own Spear in terms of power. However, it had been sealed from its full power by Karna and Vishwakarma due to Shiro's body not being ready for it yet, to which its sealed form looked like a black mechanical-looking Spear with an almost Arrowhead-shaped tip. According to the God of Architecture, the Spear's True Form could be released like those swords from that show about japanese death gods, when the wielder reaches his potential. Although, the most gripping fact about the Spear was that it had almost full sentience since, one time, Shiro had unintentionally combined it with his Sacred Gear during his Training.

As for his Sacred Gear, after some research into it that consisted of Shiro recounting the blurry memories he had of its use, he and Karna had found that it was called Rashomon, something which the older Spear wielder had been IMMEDIATELY concerned with. Upon Shiro having asked him why, the man had explained that this Sacred Gear had been… an Abnormal one, ever since its creation by the Biblical God (the knowledge of the supernatural world and the modern one had been made known to Shiro by this point). It hadn't been seen too many times throughout History because when one tried to truly awaken it, the Sacred Gear would test them first. If they pass the test, then they can fully manifest the Sacred Gear, but if not then their souls are devoured by the beast and it moves on to its next host. Because of this, the Sacred Gear Rashomon had lots of hosts over the countless centuries, but many of them had failed the tests with those that didn't have exhibited great powers. Powers which Karna wasn't too sure of their exact nature due to his Pantheon not having much information there, most of the users having been located within other factions. Factions which were a bit… selfish with their info, lets just say.

Therefore, since Shiro turned out to be the first wielder of Rashomon that the Hindu Pantheon had, having passed the thing's test which had been to 'tame the beast', they'd immediately set out to discover what made it so terrifying in the other Factions' eyes. To say that they quickly gained an understanding would be a MASSIVE understatement, since the Sacred Gear Rashomon showed itself as being able to devour its enemies, either through manifesting itself as a beast from this dark matter like Shiro had did back in the Eclipse, or by using Kurogane's middle layer when the blade and the handle split to spawn out his Sacred Gear's head, devouring his enemies that way. That was just it's OFFENSE abilities, of which it could be used in all sorts of ways, but more than that the Sacred Gear had been shown to be able to be applied defensively too, being able to form a barrier in front of him that devoured space, therefore stopping anything from hitting him.

Aside from the Spear Arts, Shiro had also trained with Karna in a specific set of Techniques called 'Blood Arts', a set of skills which actually had ones for all sorts of different weapons not just the Spear. There were swords, Hammer and even Scythe-based ones, but Shiro had only learned the Spear Blood Arts for obvious reasons. According to Karna, they had been a set of Arts that were originally unlocked within people's blood, and as such a person would normally only be able to perform one Blood Art unique to them. However, those with Divine Blood in them like Karna and Shiro himself (as Karna's descendent) had the ability to use multiple ones since, according to the older white haired man, Gods were originally created not just from the normal human method but also from the faith of the collective unconsciousness of their followers, thus they had a deeper connection to them than blood giving them the access to use these Blood Arts.

However, there was a downside. This downside to them was that the wielder must have enough strength to initiate each Blood Art, otherwise not only would it not work, but a SEVERE drainage of the user's energy would be the result, which would be fatal on the battlefield. Therefore, in order to acquire that strength Shiro had started learning the Strong Fist from Karna. This style of close quarters combat fighting involved smashing your opponent and was generally used only by the extremely physically powerful to dominate their enemies. This had been a martial arts style that emphasised on the refinement of the body and physical prowess, teaching techniques that involved meeting and countering an opponent's incoming force with equal or overwhelming force.

But close ranged bare handed and weapon combat training may be all well and good, but ranged combat was also necessary for fighters, so that they didn't get one shotted from a distance by sneaky attackers. Thus, to that end and thanks to his innate desire to be as powerful as he could be, Shiro had gotten trained in how to use a bow, his Bow being called Nightingale, an Ebony Bow that had been as black as the night as well as the darkness which he felt inside. Karna had given it to his descendent so that he could use it, whilst also explaining that it would become like it should be once Shiro reached his full potential.

One time he had actually asked Karna what he'd gotten from his connection to the guy, to which he had explained how Shiro had inherited some of his ancestors' power called Discernment of the poor, an insight to see through the opponent's character and attribute. Meaning he can tell whether who is telling the truth or who is lying, perfect for Shiro incase if he can see who was lying.

Aside from that, other powers he had inherited were Mana Burst, the power to put magical energy into weapons. In Shiro's case, blazing flames become magical energy to dwell in the weapon used. This Skill was usually active and all the weapons that he grasped received this effect. Oh and let's not forget his armor, called Kavacha and Kundala, the divine set of golden armor and golden earring made by the God of Architecture. It was as thick as it looked too, an invincible armor that protected its wearer against all harm, physical or conceptual. As long as it was active, all damage inflicted on Shiro would be reduced to a tenth of its original value. He could theoretically fight others without worry as their attacks were negated by ninety percent, reducing even powerful blows to minor scratches that could be healed in the midst of battle. Though it looked too edgy(suits his style) and almost expensive, to the point where people would come and try to take advantage of him, Shiro had decided to make a way to hide the Armor.

He did so by disguising it as a pinpoint blindfold over his eyes, though he could still see thanks to the Spell Karna had put on it, with a black ankle-length tailcoat that split into three Tails with black buckled tassels at the ends of the sleeves, a silverish-gray folded up collar up at forehead-length with a large-brimmed fedora-based hat attached on the collar with a long swordfish-like point up at the front of the hat. All while the tailcoat had large 'V'-fashioned there was the high-collared jacket coat with silver accents with matching double bandolier belts, black pants, and lastly silverish gray accented, black winkle pickers.

Though, one time when Shiro had been immersed in his training, he'd met Surya, his ancestor's father. With his lie detecting skills, Shiro had somewhat seen him as decent, despite being a God, plus he had earned points when Surya revealed that he sympathized with Shiro for going to all the hardship he had in his life, so he gave him a last name, Shiro Ravi meaning white sun. he still doesn't trust him but thank him for giving him a last name.

In current times, Shiro was located at the Svarga loka, the hindu heaven home of the hindu gods which he had been in throughout these long years. Although, internally the eagerness to get back out into the world and hunt down Apostles had grown to a large degree, to the point where he almost started drooling at the thought of. As he passed by some servants, lesser gods Shiro had realized them to be, bowed down to him because of him being Karna's descendent, which was something that was apparently a big deal to the Hindu Pantheon, not that Shiro cared much as he ignored them before he stopped by a temple that had an elephant head in front. Outside the temple's entrance, sat a man on one of it's steps, possessing….. An elephant head?

Aside from that, Shiro noted mentally that the strange man had jewels around his neck and a strap on his color, with four arms similar to that doctor guy, as well as blue skin. The elephant ears he had fluttered briefly when the sounds of Shiro's footsteps got heard, causing him to look upwards at the approaching Shiro. "Ahhh you must be Shiro Karna's descendent, glad to meet you."

Once he heard that, Shiro paused in his stride, his foot halfway lifted off the ground before he planted it back down on the ground as he borrowed his eyes at the man. The fact that he knew about his identity as Karna's descendent wasn't what caught him by surprise, since it apparently was such a big deal so Shiro had figured the majority of this place's residents knew, but the way this guy said it just now… it just threw him off, and he didn't like that. "... Who are you?" He questioned, since he didn't really do much outside of training and fighting these days, Shiro wasn't too well-versed with much else even though Karna had made him aware of the general outlook of the supernatural and modern worlds.

Something which the elephant head man hadn't been aware of if the flash of surprise that flickered across his beady black eyes were any indication. However, it soon changed into a rather sheepish expression as he got up from his perch on the steps of his Temple. "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Ganesha: son of Shiva and the god of Success and Wisdom." he declared, introducing himself with a lowering of his head in greeting.

A gesture which Shiro acknowledged with the barest tilt of his own head before he decided to get straight to business, since there was a reason why he had come here instead of just continuing his training. "Uh huh, what's the reason why you called me here Ganesha?" he questioned, recalling how, in the morning past, Shiro had received a message through his ancestor about how someone had been requesting to speak with him personally, and although Shiro had wanted for that person to speak with him himself instead of being so roundabout, since it reminded him of that damn village's nobility, he eventually just came here to get this over with.

His words caused the elephant man's eyes to brighten, slightly surprising the white haired teen since he had expected his rude demeanor to piss him off like a few Gods who had been trying to curry favour with him to get to his ancestor had tried to do. Sadly for them, they didn't get very far with his lie detecting abilities and general awareness of this stuff. "Straight to the point I see? Alright, come with me while we talk." he declared again, turning his back to him in order to head towards the Temple entrance.

Arching a brow at this behind his Blindfold Mask, Shiro then proceeded to follow Ganesha from behind as they entered his temple. Whilst they walked together side by side throughout the building, the elephant God began to talk. "You see, years ago when I went to the Shinto pantheon, Japan I met a shinto maiden, she was the beautifulest woman I've ever met. The fun fact is that she makes delicious food that makes me even drool when I think about it! I married her and together we had a child, one we called Jinako."

Shiro blinked a few times when he heard this guy confess all this with a look that could only be described as similar to a few times Brihanna had gotten gifts from the soldiers during the Crusade on a specific day. Christmas Day he remembered it being thanks to the information provided to him by his Ancestor. "A child? So she is a demigod then?" Shiro questioned, now slightly curious. The difference between a descendant of a God and a Demigod was how closely tied to the god in question they were, obviously, but it also played a role in their powers and abilities too. Descendents of Gods may not be as powerful naturally as a Demigod would, but aside from that descendents had much greater potential for growth than Demigods cause they had more… human DNA in them.

At this, Ganesha nodded, though in the following seconds his mood turned sour as he looked down, his trunk and ears drooping down with sadness being reflected from his eyes. "Yes... but, I had to leave her due to my duties as a God in success and wisdom." he told him barely above a whisper, and judging by the tone of voice he used alongside his lie detecting skills, Shiro saw the earnest regret in the God's voice. "I did visit her sometimes, making sure she knew I still remembered and valued her. Before I left, I even gave her a diary and a set of books to give to my Daughter when she'd come of age, so she knew who and what I was, alongside her heritage. But, then… an Apostle attacked my wife and Jinako one day, about 3 years ago now."

"WHAT?!"

Now THAT caught Shiro's attention, and suddenly he got a good idea as to why Ganesha had requested to meet him. It wasn't just so he could babber on about his sob story, or his so-called 'tragic romance' he once overheard a few female servants talk about a few times, it actually had to do with the very enemy Shiro had sworn to destroy himself for the sake of his comatose childhood friend!

Internally aware of the changes in Shiro's demeanor, Ganesha continued with a spark of fury entering his tone, mixed with parental worry. "Records say that the Apostle had been shaped like a spider or something, and whilst my daughter survived… My wife wasn't so lucky. But still, she didn't escape unharmed, as she got injected with a potent venom from the Apostle. It HAD been cleaned up and dealt with by her adoptive guardians after they had found her, who knew of the supernatural. However, she didn't wake up due to the venom locking her consciousness deep inside herself, what that means I'm not sure since her guardians were reluctant to tell me."

'Hmmmm… he's not telling me everything, but it seems as though he doesn't know the full story… most likely he's making a few assumptions here…' Shiro thought as he used his lie detecting skills on his story, finding some details to be more sketchy than others. However, he remained silent about the subject since it would be useless to try and get the info he likely didn't know out of that trunk of his.

They arrived at a bedroom, an Indian-style bedroom where someone lay within a large bed, covered by lavish bed covers. The person in question turned out to be a woman with long hair that reached her thighs, a hair clip tie on her hair a red dot on her forehead, an indian flower jewel on her neck with gold strap that goes down to her breast, shaggy sleeves on her arms and a shaggy pants with a red belt that ties like a tie.

'This woman… she's similar to myself…' The silver haired boy thought as the two of them approached the side of the bed. Running his gaze down her form, Shiro looked at her with sympathy in his gaze, since the teen could relate to the girl's situation, since he too knew the pain of having one's life being almost destroyed by those Apostles. After a few seconds, he looked at Ganesha as he was looking sadly at his daughter.

A couple seconds passed before the request finally came out of his mouth. "I've come to ask you to enter my daughters mind so that once you're there, find something that can heal her and bring her back to the living world. If you do this then we might have a shot at healing Arjuna's descendent. Indra is pressuring us to take any chance to wake her up, not caring that it's risky due to how fragile the mind is." he explained.

'Brihanna…' Shiro thought as his gaze softened. He remembered how, shortly after his full recovery, Karna had taken him to a specific room layered with all kinds of Sealing Wards placed on it, telling him that Brihanna's comatose form had to be stored inside like someone in stasis in one of those Sci Fi movies to protect her from the Apostles drawn to her Brand of Sacrifice. Since they couldn't do anything to the Brand itself, they had to pretty much isolate her completely instead, essentially covering up the lure as it were. So far, it had worked like a charm, but the wards were quite costly to maintain, so Indra pressuring for progress had some merit to it. "... I see….. Alright, I'll do it Ganesha. But, just one thing: how am I supposed to enter her mind?"

The response he got from the Elephant God was a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders following the verbal response. "Simple, we gods created a spell a long time ago. One meant to enter someone's mind in order to either gather knowledge or to see what secrets they hid from us, but it had been discarded a long time ago due to its side effects."

"Side effects?"

Ganesha nodded seriously, and Shiro got the feeling that this was to be taken as such. "Yes, if one TRIES to even damage a fragile mind, it would cause them to be reduced to a vegetable state where they can't even do anything, not even eating or sleeping. Lord Vishnu forbid it because of this, but I had asked my father's permission to use this if it can get my daughter back."

"... what makes you think I would even succeed Ganesha? I don't know if I'm able to fix her."

"Because Karna brought and chose you for a reason, Shiro. That, and you're pretty much the last person I can turn to since nobody else believed that this is necessary, but if you ask me a father will do anything to protect his daughter." Ganesha replied when Shiro had questioned him on why he'd chosen HIM of all people to do so. His answer had been truthful too, since there was no need to deceive Shiro on this front, not to mention the white haired boy felt… strangely satisfied with this. Like, if he had said that he trusted him, a random stranger to him, with his daughter's safety then Shiro would have knocked his socks off for such irresponsible behaviour.

But right now, Shiro chose not to listen to any of this, and instead focused on the task at hand. On another note, this could be a great way to test his hard-earned powers against the Apostles, not to mention that he could FINALLY go back down there to start his manhunt for them. Karna and the others had been quite hesitant about releasing him back into the world since they'd found him after all, mostly due to his training being incomplete still since he had yet to master the Strong Fist as well as properly handle the Blood Arts taught to him. "... ok Ganesha, send me into her mind."

"Thank you and good luck." With that said, Ganesha used his magic to put his hand on Shiro's head and then put one of his arm to Jinako as he was activating his spell.

* * *

**Later**

Once Shiro could feel that he was in a different place, Shiro opened his eyes to see and once he did, the teen looked around and saw himself standing in front of a large pyramid, one which looked to have a small city of sorts to it's left and his right. Aside from this, it looked like it was located within a large desert, with the skies looking like they were the victim of some kind of spiralling whirlpool. A low whistle escaped his lips as Shiro, once he adjusted his hat a bit and pulled his Spear, Kurogane, out from within his tailcoat. "So, this is a mind palace, or rather this could be that 'mindscape' thing I saw in various anime... gotta say, looks quite impressive, though I will have to admit: despite this daughter Jinako being indian, why does this place look like Egypt?... Ehhh, whatever lets see how I'm going to fix her."

**(Play Persona 5 OST 59 - The Days When My Mother Was There)**

Twirling his Kurogane in one hand, Shiro then proceeded to walk forwards to where he could find an entrance to the pyramid. Walking up some steps, he found himself standing before a pair of doors completely decked out in strange symbols, symbols which almost looked like… drawings. 'Huh… didn't they have a name or something? Meh, whatever, let's head inside…' the boy thought, striding forwards and reaching out with his free hand, pusing one of the doors open. Upon entering inside, he found himself going down a staircase, one which led to a square-shaped area with two staircases on opposite sides.

Seeing that they lead to the same place, Shiro went up to the right one, finding himself before a pit of sorts filled with sand, quicksand the male believed considering the themes of this place, with tall pillars jutting out that he could use to get across. 'Time to do that thing the young girls of my village did, the hop-skip-and-jump' thing…' Shiro thought, hopping onto one pillar, then jumping onto the next one in order to get across the pit relatively safely. Afterwards, the teen stood tall and looked up… only to find himself looking at a large door blocking his way. He briefly considered destroying it, but then he remembered when Ganesha said that the mind is fragile so if anything damages it then she would turn to a vegetable state. "Hhhaaaa guess I have to find another way."

Since he saw that he couldn't advance further, Shiro turned on his heels and proceeded to jump across the pit again...

"Wait, don't leave yet, I have something to talk to you..."

"... huh? Someone else is here...?" Blinking owlishly in surprise at the unexpected happening, Shiro looked ahead and saw a figure standing at the opposite side of the Pit. Curious, Shiro hopped across to where the figure was, who had then jumped down to the platform below, prompting the male to jump down after them. After landing and standing up tall, Shiro turned around to get a clear view of the person, to which the sight presented before him caught the boy off guard.

There, standing before him... was Jinako, only thing was she didn't have the same outfit on. Instead of indian clothes, she wore egypt-style ones, similar to those that he had seen from the pictures the other gods showed him from the Egypt pantheon. Not to mention that her eyes were glowing a brilliant golden colour, almost hauntingly so which didn't do much for lowering his discomfort. Something aided by Rashomon growling cautiously within the back of his mind. "So you must be Jinako. I've been sent by your father to get you."

Her eyes widened when she heard this, the mention of her father quickly igniting a sense of curiosity, sock and hope in her. "You have...? I see...Thank god, I've been here for so long….." She muttered, exhaling in joy and relief before her eyes widened in shock, horror and alarm. Her gaze also became one of urgency, as she looked pleadingly at him. "Please, you have to hurry or else-?! Oh no…. Get out of here, quickly!"

This caught Shiro off guard as he frowned, confused and quickly growing irritated inside, likely due to a side effect of Rashomon being so well-attuned to his instincts. He DID realize that he was just a beast, after all. "What? What are you talking about, Jinako?" he questioned her, wanting to know the situation at hand.

However, it didn't seem like she would ber providing any useful intel at the moment, as she hurriedly looked around as if she were frightened that something would come out to get her at any moment. "There isn't that much time before she gets here! Hurry, this is all that I can do!"

"What do you mean she-WHA?! WOOOAAAHHH!"

Before he could finish his question, the platform split in two beneath him, the two pieces falling downwards like doors, revealing themselves as a trap door that Shiro fell down through, down to a large quicksand pit below. "Wha?! Quicksand?! Shit!" Before he could fall inside the pit however, Shiro quickly activated Rashomon, various threads erupting from the back of his Tailcoat that lashed out, wrapping themselves around some solid objects which then allowed him to swing onto a square-shaped pathway with various waterfall-shaped streams of quicksand.

Ironically, that was when the rumbling around the Pyramid stopped too… something which quickly put itself on Shiro's list of suspicions he had about this place. "Haaaaaa…" Even so, Shiro nonetheless exhaled in relief, glad that he had thought to use his Sacred Gear in time as the threads retracted into his Tailcoat. "That was a close one, almost fell into that quicksand pit. I COULD have swam out of it, but that would have taken too long… still though, what the hell is it that she's afraid of? Whatever it is, it must be why she can't leave..." Shiro muttered under his breath.

As he went and jumped through some waterfall quicksand he found himself going around in a circle, causing him to grit his teeth in irritation. Instead of lashing out though, Shiro looked around as he tried to find out where he can get out, eventually looking up to see another floor. With a quick use of Rashomon to get up there, it didn't take him long to get attacked by something. Something which had used this moment of weakness to sneak attack his ass. The moment it did, Shiro's eyes widened when he saw the surroundings suddenly shimmer like the mirages that he'd seen from pictures, eventually setting into a whole new place entirely. 'Holy shit…'

The boy had no time to be amazed though, since Rashomon growled within the back of his mind, alerting him to the enemy's presence. Narrowing his eyes, Shiro looked to the direction the enemy had come from, resulting in him seeing two Naga-like beings preparing to fight him. Each of them had greyish skin, with their lower bodies that of serpents whilst their upper ones remained humanoid, with their left arms holding large buckler shields and their right arms holding long, silver Spears. 'Huh… should have figured that something would try to stop me from continuing… maybe they were sent by whatever caused that rumbling before… meh, whatevs.' Shiro thought as he quickly summoned Rashomon in the form of a Tendril tipped with a large claw. He also readied his Kurogane before jumping forwards.

A second later, the first attack went to the left Naga, who swung her Spear at Shiro, getting her strike blocked by his Spear in return. He made to strike with Rashomon then, but the claw got blocked by the shield of the other Naga who had slithered on top of her comrade. His eyes widened though when he saw their bodies crackle with… what looked to be lightning as he quickly turned Rashomon into a barrier in front of him out of reflex. This turned out to be a good thing, since Shiro managed to block a couple lightning strikes from above that could have electrocuted him otherwise.

Though, these strikes did still send him flying backwards, making Shiro use Rashomon in it's claw-Tendril form to slow himself to a halt. 'Okay, so these guys are strong enough to block my Spear and are capable of using Lightning…' He thought, trailing off when he saw them get engulfed by some sort of multi coloured energy. 'As well as some kind of augmentation ability… ok.'

A plan formed in his mind, allowing him to act once again. This time though, he reared his claw back and launched it forward first, making the right Naga quickly go to shield it's comrade once more. However, at the last second, Shiro pulled the attack back and retracted Rashomon into himself, commencing the following attack whilst yelling inside his mind. 'Rashōmon: Budding Bracken!' In the following instance, black spikes with a red outline burst forth from the ground, impaling the left Naga before she could react which caused her brethren to howl in fury at him. However, Shiro responded by throwing his Kurogane like it were a Javelin, to which she raised her shield to block it… only for the Spear to suddenly morph it's tip into a large maw instead, chomping down on her upper body and tearing her in two, swallowing it before reverting back to normal in time to impale the ground behind the corpse.

When he defeated the both of them the room suddenly went to some hallucination before he was in the same outside the quicksand pit as before, which confused him. "What the… how is that possible? Whatever that's stopping her from leaving must be very persistent."

Thus, after he managed to escape that area, Shiro commenced exploring the Pyramid, fighting those monsters on occasion whilst he continued to climb and search a way to go further. Eventually, he saw a gold egypt door with glowing symbols on it, to which Shiro approached it, seeing what he had recognized from countless battles as an 'Ankh' acting as a switch. Therefore, when he pulled it down, the door opened another path which Shiro went through and proceeded to climb up the stairs. Once he climbed up them, Shiro saw an exit nearby but that wasn't really important, since he wasn't leaving this place until he found Jinako, as well as destroyed whatever had been holding her here for over 3 years.

Thus, he ignored the exit just over there, he saw some javelin blocking two sides of the column and only the middle of it was an enemy guarding the entrance.

Narrowing his eyes, Shiro approached it, to which it sensed his presence before proceeding to speak. "**Foolish grave robber. You have enraged the guardian of your presence mere mortal."**

Hearing this, Shiro rolled his eyes as he twirled Kurogane in one hand. "Hmph, another weakling standing on my way. I'll just squash you like the others and be on my way." he stated, getting a warning growl from the being before him.

"**You dare mock me mortal? You shall feel the wrath of the coffin-borne god!"**

* * *

**AN:**

**Hunter here, and welcome to a new chapter! Sorry for the mass information dump during that long timeskip, but we wanted to get to the meat of the series already. Now, a few things: the Kurogane Spear is the basic form of the one from the God Eater series, adn Rashomon is from Bungou Stray Dogs. Oh, and his bow is the Nightingale Bow from Skyrim. Shiro's outfit is pretty much Zenkichi's outfit from Persona 5 Scramble, which is fitting for this arc since it's a P5 inspired one. Hope you like what we've done here, and if you have any questions let us know. Hope you like, and look forward to the next chap.**

**PEACE OUT!**

**The time has finally come!... My name is Darklord, bringing you another chapter of the story! For this arc we are doing a persona inspiration of Futaba's palace walkthrough, we might do two or three chapters of it depending on mow much we write. Alright thank you reading our story, be sure to leave a review if you want and I'll see you next time!**

**GOOD LUCK!**


	7. Chapter 7

Quickly things began for the two opposing forces.

Instantly taking action, the Coffin-Borne God's Coffin opened up, allowing a faintly glowing green eye and a blue coloured arm to pop out into existence. Following this, it pointed the arm at Shiro who quickly broke into a sprint, sensing danger and immediately acting on his instincts. Good thing too, cause from above, many purple spheres formed from complete nothingness which then proceeded to bombard his moving form resulting in purple explosions occurring all around him.

To counter this, Shiro formed his barrier using Rashomon, then three seconds later he hopped into a 360 degrees twisting motion to throw his Spear at the Coffin-Borne God, the tip morphing into its jaw form with the intent of chomping into the being inside the Coffin. However, the creature closed it's Coffin lid and the attack got blocked, Kurogane being deflected from it's target.

'Tch, now that's annoying…' Shiro thought as he dashed forwards, flipping from side to side to avoid the plasma balls and eventually grasping his Spear's shaft while in mid air, rolling across the ground until he managed to get back to his feet, the barrage of Spheres having been halted. 'So, the real thing's inside that Coffin, and it's protecting it from being damaged… must figure out how it's patterns work then so I can time my attacks when it opens that damn Coffin lid…'

To that end, Shiro got Rashomon ready, summoning it into its true form as that Tendril with the beastial head. With it formed, Shiro launched Rashomon the moment that he saw it's lid beginning to open, intending to bite off it's arm since according to what he had observed whilst avoiding the plasma spheres, that the energy used for them gathered at that arm's hand. It had been something he'd been forced to do in order to effectively defeat the monsters without wasting too much power since, by his logic, he figured that he didn't have the opportunity to leave her mind and return whenever he pleased. Thus, quickly observing and defeating his foes became his main attack method.

As its lid opened, the Coffin-Borne God noticed the attack coming and quickly made to close the Lid again, however Shiro noticed this and quickly changed his tactics, having Rashomon target the LID instead by opening its jaws wide and then clamping down on it, resulting in it not being able to be closed properly thanks to it's head being in the way. As the monster tried to do something about it by grabbing onto the beast's head, Shiro acted by throwing his Spear again, this time keeping it in it's base Spear form and having it impale the creature inside where the eye was located, having deduced where the forehead would have been based off where the eye and arm were positioned compared to the average human body.

His guess turned out to be right though, since the creture's form vanished like the others did seconds after Kurogane had impaled it there, allowing him to retrieve his weapon and retract his Sacred Gear into his coat again. "Hmph, like I mentioned before, another weakling just like the rest of them." Shiro snorted, turning away from the space the monster had once occupied.

After Shiro had managed to escape the 'battle arena' (that's what he will call it now) he went up another floor saw the another door with an ankh handle, prompting him to pull it down and proceed to another room which had a bottom that was filled with sand, a broken bridge and a giant arrow launcher. Thus, Shiro commenced jumping through the bridge. He ignored the arrow as it was not important to him, jumping through another few floors and went through another door.

Along the way, he passed some Egypt jars and decorations, and upon entering a room the white haired male, saw what looked to be an altar with light energy entering it, attempting to get through the wall.

Staring at this, Shiro looked confused for a moment… "Ahh, fuck it." before he decided to just go 'screw it' and pulled out his Nightingale, using his divine energy to make an arrow, pulled back the string and finally released the arrow.

BOOM!

The wall broke thanks to this, with the following actions being how the wall that was blocking the light went to another area. As he felt something move from the area as he jumped another floor and saw that the light was going at the door as he went to it, it sensed his presence and opened it for him as he deducted an answer.

"So the light was the key to opening the door, huh? Impressive..." Shiro said as he went through the doors. At this point, he had confirmed in his mind that this place was just chock full of different puzzles that needed to be solved. With those monsters acting like defenders, and he was the intruder. Not too different from sieges made back in the Crusade, really.

Upon going through them, he saw that another floor was there as he jumped to it as he continued to run through the halls and saw something that was floating there, an orb. As Shiro went to it, he examined it to see if it's a trap or something. There were no booby traps so he took the orb and put it in his pocket. As he went to another floor, he saw another door and went to it. Another orb was there so he took it and went out of the door and continued his path.

When he approached another door he opened it, when he was in the room he saw the same altar but a different statue as it was turning in another direction instead of the door. "I see, maybe if I… no, I already took the risk and I was lucky that it didn't damage her mind. So, let's see if there is anything here that can help." Shiro muttered under his breath to himself. Afterwards, he looked throughout the room to see if anything could help him with the altar without damaging it. In the end, he saw two pedestals that had the same dog face he saw that the orbs had. "Hmmmmm... let me see."

To that end, Shiro put the orb he got from before as he put it in the pedestal and it fit, he saw another pedestal and put the orb there to see if anything were to happen. He was right when the floors began to tremble as he looked at the walls that were on the side pulled back and the altar moved its proper direction and opened the door.

Looking at the altar and the door before going to the door, Shiro jumped some floors and climbed some long stairs. Whilst climbing stairs and passing a door, he soon came across another enemy on his way, a dog head man with some wraps around his body and floating. Looked like an 'Anubis' as he had discovered through some verbal wordplay during a couple previous encounters with monsters of this type, not to mention that he was with two Nagas too, prompting Shiro to scoff. "More enemies. Looks like this one's going to take a while this time… actually, I have an idea. Maybe I can test THAT technique out now…"

Instead of using Kurogane or his Nightingale, Shiro opted to just release his Rashomon in it's true form, slamming it into the ground behind him. Inside his mind, the male shouted the following words: 'Rashōmon: Budding Bracken!' Following this, Rashomon surfaced beneath the three adversaries in the form of many long spikes, spikes which ended up impaling each of the monsters before they could react in multiple vital areas, resulting in their quick defeat before they could do anything to him. 'At this point, I'm more concerned with effectively destroying these guys than drawing out the fights and wasting both time along with energy. Now then, let's continue…'

With that thought, Shiro walked through some more corridors and entered another door, to which he then saw another Altar that would take a while to get there if anyone had patience but not Shiro. Since he had Rashomon, he launched it in the form of threads swinging around, resulting in him landing on an Altar. Once he did so, Shiro saw another wall that was blocking the light, to which Shiro just went ahead and destroyed it since he didn't have the time, nor the patience, to go through some damn puzzles.

When he was about to leave, something caught Shiro's eye, prompting him to turn towards it, As a result, his gaze laid itself upon… what looked like some sort of painting, one at the stairs by the door. 'Hm? That painting…' Curious, he went to see what it was, and upon doing so he got greeted by the sight of Jinako in an Egypt's clothing, with people in black around her as she was in tears while on her knees. Judging from what he saw, it looked like they were saying something as if she was…. "Bullied…" Shiro mumbled, his eyes widening as the possibility of things being MUCH worse than simply being attacked by an Apostle dawning on him. He then thought back to what Ganesha had told him, and a look of disturbed understanding crossed onto his face. "So, perhaps that's why they didn't tell her father all that much..." Shiro muttered as he went to another door. Passing through it, Shiro saw Jinako in front of him, on the ground and desperately crawling away from something.

"Jinako!"

"No no, get away from me!"

Upon hearing him, Jinako became a panic-ridden mess as she got up and ran away like something was chasing her as Shiro then went to where she was and disappeared. Shiro looked left and right for her as if she wasn't there. "Dammit! What the hell is chasing her?" the male wondered, growling in frustration as he looked to where she had been looking and saw nothing.

Guessing that he didn't have that much time left, the boy proceeded to run towards the direction she had run in, but not too long into this a bolder got dropped and rolled to his side. It would have flattened him like a pancake, had Shiro not pulled out his Kurogane and slashed and destroyed it. Before he could breathe easy however, another came after the first, which prompted the boy to get out of the way, and whilst doing so he saw a little hole in it. As such, he quickly went to it and crawled up it.

Before he could go to it, Shiro blinked in confusion when he came across some… coffins, and before he could leave the area instantly became dark, like most of the light in the world had been sucked away by the shadows. Furthermore, there was a red tinge, one which dominated the atmosphere, sending chills down the boy's spine similar to when he had been in the Eclipse. as he looked left and right before he arrived at a large battle arena. However, compared to previous times, it looked so much darker with what looked like some sort of ritualistic pentagon being drawn on the floor.

'Oh shit, this doesn't look good…' Shiro thought, soon being proven right when he saw blood coming out, similar to a splash one would make when stepping on a puddle. Out of the bloody splash came a mechanical-looking spindly leg, followed by another, then a large body, until it finally revealed itself in all of its entirety… prompting Shiro to grunt in disgust as he held Kurogane at the ready. It appeared in the for of a huge brain with various facial features, such as menacing eyes and teeth, mounted atop a cybernetic chassis with four mechanical legs and a Chaingun, making it similar to a spider at first glance. It looked at him before it screamed.

SCCRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

"...Ugh, fuck my life."

Holding Kurogane in his right hand, Shiro got into his battle stance. His eyes narrowed at the beast as he decided to have it make the first move, wanting to see what it could do and how he could exploit possible weaknesses. As such, the Spider-like creature's Chaingun made the first move as it repeatedly fired a burst of energy spheres at him that were cracking with electrical energy, prompting him to roll to the side instead of having Rashomon devour the space between him and the projectiles with its barrier. 'I see, so it favours ranged attacks then, huh…?' the white haired male mused internally as he saw the… well, he'll call it a 'Spiderdemon' since that was what he could think of as a name for this sucker. Especially since it reminded him of the Apostles he'd seen during the Eclipse, much to his internal fury.

Switching his Kurogane out for his Nightingale, Shiro began firing a bunch of energy Arrows using his Divine Energy as a power source, however what he did NOT anticipate was how the Spiderdemon demonstrated it's surprising level of speed by dashing out the way of his Arrows, retaliating with short bursts of fire from it's Gatling Gun. 'Well shit, I didn't expect that…' Shiro thought, gritting his teeth as head to force himself into dodging the rounds launched at him by the enemy and counter with his own, paying extra attention to where it dashed to instead of firing at it's position.

This repeated tradeoff between the two foes lasted a few minutes, before the Spiderdemon got tired of the stalemate. The Arrows had similar numbers to what its Gatling Gun could fire, but the amount of pain it felt from them when they hit it's hulking form gradually increased the more time passed by. The longer it dragged the battle on, the more of a disadvantage it would be in, its massive brain deduced so it hopped into the air and crashed downwards, surprising Shiro as he almost lost his balance from the shockwave the landing generated…

Although he instinctively used this to get into a side flip to avoid a curving laserbeam launched by it's Gatling Gun.

'A second fire mode?! I heard that some guns have that kind of thing, but this is…!' the boy thought before he noticed similar lasers being fired from multiple spots around the creature's body, mostly the main area which the legs were connected to. It followed suit by turning a full 360 degrees to try and use these lasers as makeshift energy blades to try and cut him apart, only for Shiro to put up a barrier via Rashomon and deflect them from his being with it instead. 'Tch, these lasers will be a nuisance if I don't do something to stop it from moving…' Shiro thought.

Just then, an idea struck him as he quickly switched out his Nightingale for his Kurogane, rearing it back and then throwing it at the Spiderdemon JUST as it had finished its movements. In mid air, the Spear's tip morphed into it's mouth form… and thus, it angled itself so that it could bite into the Spiderdemon horizontally.

SCCRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

A huge howl of pain escaped the creature, though it got dulled by the fact that his Kurogane's maw covered the majority of it's face… though what Shiro REALLY intended was to cut off its eyesight and startle it for just a brief moment, intending to do something else with his Rashomon. 'Rashomon: Agito!' He yelled into his mind, summoning his Sacred Gear in the form of a long Tendril tipped with a massive head with an equally large maw… one which lunged forwards and bit through two of the Spiderdemons' legs like a hot knife through butter.

SCCRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

A louder scream, slightly drowned out by Shiro's Kurogane, escaped the beast as it tried to smack the Spear against the ground to forcefully dislodge it from its face, with gradual signs of this working becoming apparent when the mouth form began to lose its grip. Along the way though, it began to charge up its Gatling Gun again with the intent of firing a laser at pretty much any direction ever, not something which Shiro would allow though since that kind of reckless behaviour risked damaging Jinako's mind.

'Time to get rid of you, then…' The boy thought as he drew Nightingale from his coat again, notched an energy arrow before firing it… right into the Gatling Gun's barrel just as it had prepared to fire.

BOOM!

This caused the Gatling Gun to explode beneath the Spiderdemon, causing it to go flying into the air and give a shrill shriek of pain… although this also had the side effect of finally dislodging Kurogane from it's prey to the Spear's displeasure. However, Shiro ran up towards it whilst slamming Rashomon in it's jaws shape into the ground to propel himself into the air, grasping his Kurogane by the Shaft. He then retracted his Sacred Gear into his Coat, before coming down towards the falling Spiderdemon with the intent to impale it with his Spear, finally finishing this fight.

That WAS what he had intended…

BUUUUT, that didn't happen since, well, the Spiderdemon landed upside down sure, but it seemed to keep the remaining front leg forwards to the right and the back led to the left, all whilst flipping its main body upside down so that it's former Gatling Gun would have been above the main head instead of below it, somewhat akin to a turret. As such, Shiro only stabbed the bottom part of it, not reaching anything vital like he had hoped causing him to scowl and bite back a curse when it threw him off by swinging its body around.

This also separated him from his Kurogane since he dropped it out of reflex during the fall.

Several grunts escaped his lips as Shiro grunted, rolling across the ground before coming to a halt and looking upwards once he had recovered his senses, only to see the Spiderdemon already leaping at him, fury roaring within its eyes as it raised it's remaining front leg to try and strike him down. 'So it can balance itself as well… whelp, at least this one's more of a challenge than the weaklings I fought before…' Shiro thought as he quickly threw his left arm forwards. "Rashomon!" He yelled, the Sacred Gear activating and forming a barrier in front of him JUST in time for the leg's tip to slam into it, sending Shiro sliding further along the ground.

Pulling out his Nightingale, Shiro made to fire some more Arrows at its eyes, knowing that it would be a big possibility that he'd miss due to how small they were and how fast this beast was, though he banked on it's lack of half its legs limiting its mobility to help him with this. However, before he could fire, Shiro grunted in annoyance when he saw the creature start releasing metallic spheres from it's main body, sort of like it were some kind of mobile tank that Karna had shown him once. 'Oh, come the fuck on!'

Luckily for him, Shiro managed to summon Rashomon again as a bunch of strands, having them stab into the ground and push upwards, taking him out of their reach as the spheres exploded like grenades after a few seconds. Instincts told him to take the Strands out of the ground too, so Shiro did and impaled the surrounding walls with them. Good thing too, because the creature's brain (once the main body rotated back to so that it's brain was upright) crackled with electrical energy that then spread all across the floor, making Shiro feel REAL glad that he had done what he did. He didn't want to know if Rashomon's damage could be passed along to him especially if what he knew about electric currents was true… he wasn't the smartest bookworm in the world let's just say that.

His skills lay on the battlefield, that would be where he would die, too.

In any case, Shiro knew he had to get this done quickly, he didn't want any more risk of damaging Jinako's mind to happen because of this thing, so he decided on a plan to end this fight once and for all. 'Alright, let's do this…' he thought to himself, retracting Rashomon into himself before falling downwards… directly on top of the Spiderdemon. Similar to before, only this time he notched a couple arrows onto his Nightingale and fired them at the joints of his opponents legs, having made sure to prepare good shots for them. \\\

This time, things worked out like he hoped as the arrows shredded through the joints of the legs thanks to him putting a bit more energy into them, resulting in the Spiderdemon howling as its main body fell to the ground beneath it, unable to rotate itself to defend against his following attacks.

'Rashomon: Murakumo!' the boy thought, throwing his right arm to the side in which it got enveloped by the dark matter that Rashomon spawned from, becoming a long whip-like appendage tipped with a claw-like hand. He used it not on the Spiderdemon, though… but to retrieve his Kurogane then retract it back to him, allowing Shiro to grab it with his left arm, dismiss Rashomon, then position Kurogane for a Stab… one which impaled it in the brain.

One last dying screech escaped the creature upon the attack's inevitable collision… before it finally went dead, losing what motions it could have made as it disappeared, Shiro flipping forwards and landing in a crouch. He stood up, dusted himself off whilst retracting Rashomon and storing Kurogane into his Coat with his Bow (which he'd stored away after its previous use). He then pocketed his hands inside his coat pockets whilst he turned to glance behind him through the corner of his eye at where the beast once lay, a few words of farewell to his fallen foe escaping him. "I'll give you this much, you were more of a challenge compared to the small fry so far…"

Not too long afterwards, did the place start shaking, all before Shiro found himself back at the coffin room. However, it still rumbled as Shiro saw Boulders, multiple of them, rolling down for a while before it stopped leaving a trail. Shiro then jumped some floors before jumping on the boulders as he continued his path as he then dropped down the floor from the builder as he went to the door and opened it.

As he opened it he saw the alters lights going on a path as he followed it, when he reach a room he saw the altar was stopped by the wall and behind it was some kind of blank screen(again, he was filled in knowledge on the modern world) as he went around the altar before seeing some green egypt symbols before he pressed it.

It was then the area was filled the same thing happened when he fought the Spiderdemon. In front was a black mass before it began its shape, its skin was dark brown with the same red, dot-like design extending from his shoulders reaching down to his arms, with long, pale white hair reaching down across his shoulders. The most unique trait about him though, from what Shiro could see, was that his face resembled that of a gigantic spider with several eyes and spider pincers in both of his cheeks. Though, regardless the boy didn't take too kindly to this. "Great another one."

"**STAY AWAY FROM HER!"**

The massive humanoid roared whilst jumping forwards and raising both its arms for an overhead smash. However, Shiro responded by jumping forwards and sliding beneath it, resulting in him sliding across the ground and getting on all fours, twisting around so that he faced the creature's behind. Shiro then pulled out his Kurogane, reared it back before jumping forth into a thrust, driving it right… into the creature's backside.

"**GROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"**

A loud howl of anger and pain erupted from the creature's mouth as it twisted its backside back and forth, throwing Shiro away and separating him from his Spear. It then took the Spear out, looked at it for a moment before grabbing it's main end to try and break it off… only for a flying kick to slam into the side of its head with the force of a jackhammer, sending it tumbling away as the attacker grabbed the Spear by its shaft before it could fall to the ground.

The attacker, a rather pissed Shiro, growled. "I may be a lot of things, but what I'm NOT is forgiving… ESPECIALLY if you try to break what's mine!" he bellowed, summoning Rashomon in its many threads form which then lunged forth to try and spear the place where the large creature had been slammed into. However, the monster managed to get out of there at the last second, sliding beneath the threads before grabbing them after getting back to its feet.

'Uh oh…'

Shiro gulped as the creature pulled back, pulling the male into the air and flying towards it. Therefore, since this was going to happen Shiro threw Kurogane once again, this time commanding it's tip to morph into mouth form which bared its jaws open wide. The creature didn't give it much attention though, just simply backhanded the Spear away with no intent to touch it since the last time didn't work out so well, therefore it did that in order to get a good view of Shiro… who had drawn out his Nightingale and had begun firing energy arrows at its face. This caused it to raise its free hand to block them, but that was what Shiro wanted as he fired several ones to his side to reposition himself so that he would fall past it.

By the time the arrows stopped and the creature could lower it's hand, it saw that Shiro had already run a full circle around it so that he could pull on Rashomon's threads, causing them to wrap around it's legs and trip it up, making it fall flat onto its back. Retracting the threads to him, Shiro decided to go with another technique of his, wanting to finish this now. 'Rashomon: Early Blooming Sakura!'

Following this, Rashomon manifested itself from his back, taking the form of a tendril-like appendage, one which wrapped around the creature and lifted it up high into the air. Once at an appropriate height and distance, Rashomon exploded into several finely-developed flower spikes, shredding through the creature inside until the Sacred Gear retracted inside him once again. 'I bet it's not defeated yet…' Shiro thought as he observed it's form whilst having his Sacred Gear retrieve his Spear and bring it back to his waiting right hand. 'To make sure I win, I'll do what people call a 'double tap', bite off its head…' With that in mind, Shiro did just that, getting into a position where he could throw Kurogane at the creature's head from a reasonable distance, and then did so whilst the Spear's tip became it's mouth form again.

This time, true to Shiro's theory, the creature had started to do something but before it could do so his Spear bit off its head, stopping whatever process had been happening before it could even begin. With this battle done, Shiro was then transported back to where he was at the altar from before, though he didn't have much time to gain his bearings again since the screen began to buzz to life. A few seconds later, it showed a picture of a woman and Jinako. It looked like she was jumping to a car while Jinako was trying to reach her. It was then he realized what happened.

"She committed suicide… but why….? Of course, the Apostle. Could it have done something to the mother…?" Shiro muttered under his breath as the Altar began to move towards the screen, which then disappeared as the next door opened. Seeing that he could advance, Shiro got down to the floor as he began to run up the stairs again. At this point he approached the door before it began to open, to which he entered it. Upon doing so, he discovered that the room had two golden egyptian statues sitting down whilst it looked like they were bathed in glory.

Uncaring for this, began to walk through the hall before he entered another door.

* * *

**Later**

"Ugh just how big is this mindscape for a demigod?" Shiro complained as he had to run around for seemingly an eternity, looking for another way to proceed through this place. Back in his village, he had once heard a few females talk about how a girl's heart held many secrets, to which he had to wonder if their minds did too, definitely seemed that way with everything that had been going on.

As he proceeded to jump some floors, Shiro noticed a button and a crossbow nearby. Thanks to being slightly curious about them, he nearly touched it before pulling back his hand, remembering the part when that huge spider appeared. Perhaps something like that could happen again, so he wouldn't take any chances. This time. Therefore, Shiro pulled his bow's bowstring back at the wall and let loose a few energy arrows, destroying it. Afterwards, instead of any monsters appearing the light went to the Altar as it began to go the other direction.

Normally other people would go around solving puzzles, but not Shiro as he didn't have much time for puzzles, thus he jumped off the floor, then used Rashomon to get to the floor where the light was going. When he landed on where the Altar was, he followed the light through some rooms before he found himself in the same room as the statues. The light looked like it was going through some blue floating rhombus before going to the correct direction as Shiro jumped the statues and the rhombus.

As he ran through the halls and the stairs again, Shiro soon found himself at another screen and Altar pair. By this point, he had figured out the truth behind these screens, their purpose and their nature… though that didn't mean that he liked what he thought. This time though, Shiro's instincts prepared him for another enemy, his Kurogane already out and eager to devour some more.

Yet, as he reached out to touch it, his ears twitched when he heard Jinakos voice. "WATCH OUT!"

"?!"

Instincts activated in time, as Shiro jumped to the side, dodging what looked like a Pincer that had been swiped at him from above, having intended to end him by splitting him in half vertically. 'Tch, good thing I was ready just then, even if that girl's voice alerted me quicker…' The teen thought as he slid across the ground to a halt. Whilst he did so, the arena turned dark again but this time, it had some webs around the arena he noticed whilst looking around, before his gaze fell upon the form of Jinako trapped within a large web cocoon, save for her face.

Before he could move or do ANYTHING for that matter, a disturbingly sickening, almost feminine voice spoke, accompanied by a maniacal cackle afterwards that sent chills down Shiro's spine. "_**Hmmmmm, what do we have here….? An intruder, and what's this….. Ahhhhh, the pharaoh demigod."**_

From above, a large figure dropped down in front of Shiro, landing opposite him which allowed the teen to get a clear view of it. Whilst it looked goddamn hideous, it didn't faze him too much considering the shit he had seen during the Eclipse. The thing took the form of a huge spider that was the size of two houses, the face sporting multiple eyes as the mouth looked like an alien predator(A picture of one of the movies that a god had shown him) but more like a serpentine basilisk. Shiro's eyes narrowed when he saw green liquid spewing out of its mouth and the top body part, whilst it sported additional pincers on both sides, making about 2 large ones and 2 smaller ones. 'Okay, this fucking bitch looks disgusting… though it reminds me of those Apostles, so it's going to die…' Shrio thought, getting an agreeing grunt from his Sacred Gear which internally made him smirk in bloodlust.

"_**Hmmmm so, you were the one who destroyed my brethren. Impressive boy, you are the first to ever reach here, perhaps the last one to ever come this far."**_

"Spare me the details, I'd rather not look at you more than necessary." Shiro snorted whilst positioning his Kurogane, the Spear gleaming menacingly whilst he felt it shudder in his grasp. 'I say that, but since I'm not exactly at 100% at the moment, I'll have to rely on skill and perseverance to get out of this alive…' the boy thought whilst Kurogane's bloodlust leaked out of it. If it had its mouth out right now, then it would have been frozen into a savage grin with drool seeping out.

"_**Arrogant boy, just because you killed my brethren, doesn't mean I'm weak. I, Silitha, enjoy feasting on your body alive!" **_

In that moment, the battle began with the large spider known now as 'Silitha', abruptly vanished in a cloud of purple smoke, causing Shiro to widen his eyes a bit at the sight before he looked down when he noticed a shadow. Instincts told him what was going to happen in the next few seconds, so he jumped to the side and out the way of his adversary before she could smash on top of him. He had to flip backwards too to avoid a swing of one of her legs too, lest it smack him and launch him flying.

Stabbing Kurogane into the ground to slow his movements to a halt, Shiro looked up to see the creature having already closed the distance between them by moving across the battlefield, swinging one of it's pincers in a low sweeping motion. Of course, Shiro jumped over it, then summoned Rashomon as a couple threads to thwack away the second overhead pincer slash that Silitha launched afterwards, deflecting it so that it struck the ground beside him instead.

Afterwards, Silitha teleported away from him, giving Shiro the chance to retract the strands but then she appeared before him whilst flicking her Pincers in his direction, Shiro barely raising his Spear into a horizontal position in time to block them, as well as summoning two threads from Rashomon to halt the Pincers when they went for an overhead smash again. Not a second later, did the massive Spider teleport away again, intending to crush him beneath her weight once she reappeared above him…

Unlike before though, the teen was prepared for this. When her form appeared above him again, Shiro quickly summoned Rashomon in its true black beast form, launching it upwards from his back right into her backside. This caused a surprise screech to escape it as Rashomon opened it's maw and bit into her hide, causing a pained screech to escaped Silithia's maw as it tossed her aside, making her slide across the ground upon landing.

"**You will regret that!"**

Screeching this, Silitha teleported once more, appearing beside the male this time with her right pincer poised to thrust down at him. However, Shiro allowed the Spear he held to switch to its mouth form before it bit onto the Pincer with a strong grip, not letting go that easily which reflected how Shiro did the same when she pulled the Pincer back, taking him into the air with it. Of course, Silitha wasn't a fan of this development, so she tried to fling him down to the ground below after teleporting to the ceiling so she could squash him, however Shiro instead used his Spear as a pole to vault on top of the creature, landing on top of her head and then pulled out his Nightingale. He notched a few arrows, then let them loose into her head at point blank range.

PEW-PEW-PEW!

… To her credit, he would admit that she had a hard head which also made him think had a contribution to her stubbornness, since the arrows only lightly pierced through her skull and didn't in fact go through her brain like he had intended. Therefore, Shiro had instead made to put more power into his next Arrow, a risky move on his part, had Silitha not flung her head forwards at the last second which successfully flung him off. He then shot his arrow towards her, but she Teleported behind him to avoid it, forcing him to quickly put up Rashomon in it's signature defensive barrier to defend against the Pincer strike that followed. It DID send him flying towards a wall though, so he retracted the barrier and summoned several Rashomon threads, impaling the wall behind him like they were spider legs (oh, how ironic, he couldn't help but internally muse…) before he repeatedly fired arrows at his opponent.

PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW!

Arrows flew out in a long, wide volley towards Silitha who began teleporting all over the place, at one point dropping Kurogane from her Pincer which caused Shiro to pull out a Rashomon Thread to grab it by it's hilt then bring it back to him, that being his signal to store the Bow away in his coat in favour of grabbing his Spear's shaft (the thread retracting into his coat) before he had the Threads push forwards to propel him towards his enemy.

Seeing this, Silitha, who had attached herself to the ceiling, tried to swing at him with her left Pincer, however Shiro swung his Spear and deflected the blow, resulting in him getting close enough to her face…

For the following slash fest.

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!

His spearmanship began to show in that moment as Kurogane became a massive blur of motion, swings upon swings being landed upon the creature's face.

"**ARGH! GAH! Stop this, damn you!"**

"How about… no."

Shiro then got an idea, prompting him to grab onto his opponent by one of her horns with his free hand whilst he summoned Rashomon in it's beast form. The Sacred Gear then proceeded to act according to it's master's will and repeatedly smashed itself into the massive spider's torso area. Thanks to it being on the ceiling, these repeated attacks eventually forced it to be dislodged from said ceiling, falling down to the ground below. However, Shiro didn't let that stop him from his task as he launched Rashomon in the form of many Threads out towards the creatures' legs as well as her Pincers, preventing her from moving them or using her Pincers to stop what would come next.

Thus, Shiro reared his Spear back after forcefully yanking open the Spider's mouth then rammed it full force right through the top portion of said mouth, the spear piercing right through the top of its head and through its brain. His idea had been that, if he wanted to puncture this fucking bitch, then he needed to find a softer area, and the inside of the mouth definitely fit that bill if one asked him.

As the Spider's corpse vanishes and the setting returned to normal (Shiro having launched a few Threads from Rashmon to free/catch Jinako), he had to reflect on what had happened and the luck he'd had to pull that little stunt off. His idea, though he doubted that the now dead Silitha would have let him get that cose if he had approached with that plan in mind from the beginning, so he felt lucky that he'd thought of the idea on the fly.

Afterwards, he placed his Spear inside his coat again before he approached Jinako, who sat on her ass since his Threads had retracted into his coat. "You alright Jinako?" he asked her slowly, prompting her to look at him.

Following this, she gave him a nod as she gradually got up to her feet. "I'm….. fine, better yet I feel almost complete." she told him, confusing the boy.

"Almost complete?" As Shiro asked this of Jinako, he and her glanced to the side, seeing the screen before the Altar buzzed to life. It then showed after a few seconds, a picture of her and her mother had their hands up while on their knee as a huge spider on the top of the painting, it looked like the spider had a human head on the forehead, it was preparing to attack Jinako and her mother. "So it's true… you were attacked by a spider-shaped Apostle."

"A…. spider Apostle?"

"I'll explain it later, right now we need to get out of here."

"I see…. wait I know how we can get out of here."

"You do?... hold on." After hearing that, Shiro grabbed Jinako by her waist and lifted her into his arms with ease, resulting in him carrying her like a princess whilst internally noting how light she was. Needless to say, she made a quick squeak of surprise whilst Shiro jumped down to the floor below, the wind being knocked out of her whilst he then let her on her own two feet.

After she recovered from those quick movements, the dizziness soon faded from her mind whilst she looked at him. "You could warn me you know?" she remarked, pouting whilst trying to stop her heart from skipping beats.

Meanwhile, Shiro rolled his eyes at her, not really seeing the problem with his actions. "The less talk we have, the quicker we get out of here." he told her, proceeding to head up the Stairs with Jinako following suit, resulting in them walking side by side with one another.

Seeing that he didn't intend to apologize for scaring her like that, Jinakojust decided to move on. "Ok but first let me explain, for so long I have been tormented by those spiders almost everyday, trying to kill me, eat me, whatever. I don't know what they would do to me, but I didn't think it'd be anything good so I've been escaping them for over 3 years. When you did something to them, I feel like the pressure is gone, I feel like I can walk out of here anytime... but, somethings still holding me back." she explained, frowning in confusion at the end as she wondered what could still be trapping her here… though deep down, her gut told her that she already had an answer to this.

An answer only known to her and theorized by Shiro, though he didn't outright say anything about it and instead started to inquire about something else. "Where can I find this thing that's holding you back?" he questioned.

Just in time for her to stop walking since they had reached the top of the Stairs, thus Shiro did the same. "In there." She told him, pointing with her right arm to a green looking door that had spider webs covering it. However, when he looked it over, Shiro noticed something off about the spiderwebs there, some of them had begun dripping off like torn clothing rags, turning brown and wilting away like life was being rapidly drained from them. "You see these webs had been blocking my exit since those spiders have entered here. But now they're getting weaker thanks to you." she explained.

'Huh, so that must mean those spider things were part of what's keeping her from leaving this place…' Shiro thought to himself, a new level of understanding taking hold within him. "I see..."

Approaching the web-covered door, Jinako pressed her hand on a section of it that wasn't covered by the webs. As if responding to her touch, the door glowed as Shiro noticed that the webs were disappearing much quicker than before, like the whole thing was burning them off its form like a snake shedding its skin. Or a microwave heating up, that second one looking more feasible considering how the webs looked like burned cinders when they hit the ground. Finally, the door began to open before a platform appeared before them, prompting the two to approach it with Shiro at the front since he had been fighting this whole time.

Not too long into their walk, the platform began to go upwards as it stopped before they came to a room definitely filled with webs and small spiders going around it. 'Pft, more small fries. Not too keen on dealing with them and wasting my remaining power…' Shiro thought to himself whilst looked at the path in front of him. He eyed the multiple enemies walking around warily, noticing that they hadn't been alerted to their presence yet, before he spotted a floor at the top of their current position. 'Hmph, that'll work…' he thought to himself.

"Eek!"

'Women like to squeak a lot, don't they? Wonder if Brihanna was an exception to this…'

Instantly following an idea he'd thought of, Shiro grabbed onto Jinako's waist, pulling her close to him which prompted her to squeak again, though he didn't pay attention to this. Instead, he summoned several Rashomon threads to propel them upwards, several launching themselves and impaling the platform above to pull them the rest of the way. As such, the two were lowered onto the higher platform with his Threads retracting into his coat once more.

Whilst he let his new companion go, she aimed a mildly frustrated yet annoyed look at him. "Again? You need to tell me before you do it again!" she whined.

Once again though, Shiro remained unaffected by this as he rolled his eyes, pocketing his hands inside his coat as he proceeded to walk forwards. "Like I said before, less talk means the faster we can get the fuck out of here." he told her.

This prompted another exhale to escape from her lips as she slouched a bit. "Can you just act like a rational person instead of straight forward?" she wondered, though she still followed slightly behind him despite his words.

This caused him to glance behind her in confusion, one could literally see the question marks that formed over his head when he responded to her words. "What, at least it gets the job done faster."

"...(SIGH), now I know why mother said boys are so complicated." Jinako mumbled under her breath whilst shaking her head, Shiro not paying attention to this so he didn't hear her as they approached a large coffin. Whilst looking at it, Shiro approached the Coffin warily, cautious for any traps or anything of that sort due to past experiences with navigating through this place. As he touched it however, the floor began to shake before a hole in the pyramid was made lighting both of them up, like they were being engulfed by some kind of searchlight in a top secret facility. Following that, everything became silent, eerily silent as the two covered their faces to shield them from the intense light, mostly due to having gotten used to seeing without much of it. However, in the back of his mind, Shiro could feel Rashomon cautiously growling, which told him that something dangerous was nearby, prompting him to narrow his eyes…

Before all of a sudden, an eye instantly came into focus.

"**JIIIIIINNNNNNNAAAAAKKKKKKKOOOOOOO!"**

A loud voice, both feminine yet so inhumanely monstrous, shrieked like a ghostly echo whilst it's owner began to destroy the blocks of the pyramid from the outside. Loud trembles erupted forth because of this, prompting Shiro to use Rashomon to cover himself as well as Jinako, since they could feel the blocks breaking down and falling, before it stopped.

When Shiro uncovered him and Jinako they then got a clear view of it: It was… well, only an abomination, that's the best way that he could describe it… much like the countless Apostles he'd seen back in the Eclipse. The creature had the body of a spider, true enough, with a feminine body consisting of a waist, upper torso, arms and head protruding out the top of the spider body's 'head'. The whole thing looked completely black, being more than big enough for it's many legs to stab into multiple parts of the entire Pyramid. But, more than that… the body looked similar to the woman that he had seen from the pictures, making him realize that this thing could possibly Jinako's mother... but she, now looked like a complete MONSTER, those spider legs of hers being sharp enough to resemble blades whilst she sported two Pincers for her humanoid part's forearms.

"**YOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUU WILL NOT STEAL HER FROM MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"**

**(Play Persona 5 OST - Blooming Villain)**

The woman/monster screeched at him, her human mouth opening into four to reveal various spider characteristics like the fangs and teeth inside, her face soon sporting multiple eyes on both sides making her human face resemble that of the spider face her humanoid form protruded out the top of. "Holy shit…" That was what Shiro muttered under his breath as he beheld this monstrosity, glancing over to Jinako to see her reaction. As he had anticipated, it wasn't pretty since Jinako had her jaw hanging open, her irises the size of dots whilst her eyes looked like they had expanded to the size of saucers, her skin tone having become paler than a corpse as her look of sheer HORROR reminded him of the first time he truly faced something that could kill him like swatting a fly. "Oi, girl, quick get to co-"

SMASH-SMASH-BASH!

Before he could finish issuing a command to his female companion to try and snap her out of it, the 'Spider-Mom' as he would now dub her as, quickly lashed out at the two, swiping her right Pincer towards him which forced Shiro to jump away from Jinako in order to not get impaled. Well, he COULD have defended against her strike with Rashomon, but by the time he'd seen her attack coming he didn't think he could bring it out in time. Thus, the dodge as well as the following dive roll to avoid the following diagonal smash from her left Pincer, and finally the back flip to avoid the double smash that came from both Pincers.

'Shit, now that was close!'

Things weren't looking good for Shiro, and this battle had already just begun. Lets list his disadvantages shall we? First off, the enemy dwarfed him in size, making it nearly impossible to strike at any vital areas thanks to the majority of them being in the humanoid body according to Shiro's past experiences with Apostles. Striking their human parts had been their weaknesses, something which he'd discovered during the Eclipse, not to mention they'd fought pretty hard to defend those areas when he had tried going after them back then. Second, the enemy proved that she could strike with more than just her Pincers, since two spider legs would come and launch wide sweeping attacks on his ass whilst on multiple occasions, the spider head would spew out either a burst of spider silk to try and immobilize him for a followup strike or a burst of acid that filled major portions of the floor. Luckily, it didn't melt the platform or anything, but from slight brushes with his skin Shiro had QUICKLY learned that human flesh wouldn't be so lucky.

All the while, Jinako had fallen onto her backside near the corner of the newly created platform. She could only stay there and watch, looking absolutely terrified as she saw what kind of monster her mother had been twisted into. "No… this can't be… mother…" She muttered to herself, her eyes trembling alongside the rest of her body as Shiro continued battling against her mother in this state, using a combination of Rashomon and Nightingale to try and target the multiple eyes on the Spider head that he had noticed would stagger her briefly. Pretty much played hit and run tactics, essentially, whilst doing what he could to avoid her massive AOE attacks which could potentially lead to fatal blows if he weren't careful.

'Tch, guess I have no choice…' Shiro thought as he figured now would be a good time to unleash his Armour's true form and power. Therefore, with a click of his tongue acting as the signal, his entire outfit started glowing in a dim light, quickly changing into it's true form as golden armour that covered Shiro's form. A surge of power swelled inside of him after he did this, as the next attack launched by the Spider-Mom slammed into him, though he hardly felt it this time thanks to the Armour's defensive properties becoming active once its true form got revealed. 'Yes! It's working fine…! Well, i'm glad though I'll have to end this fight quickly instead of celebrating like a little idiot since wearing this in its true form drains my energy with gusto…' Shiro thought as, after a momentary bout of confusion passed, the Spider-Mom shrieked with outrage again, quickly launching a series of smacks with her Pincers which Shiro tanked thanks to his Armour. This stunned the monster before him, stunned it long enough that Shiro managed to get a quick breather in before an idea struck him. 'Oh, now that could work!'

With a plan in mind, Shiro switched out Nightingale for his Kurogane, before he waited for his prime opportunity to strike. Said chance came in the form of the Spider-Mom slamming one of her Pincers down onto him, to which he quickly raised his Spear and switched its tip into it's Mouth form. As such, the moment the Pincer came close enough, Shiro made his Kurogane grab onto it by the flat sides with it's powerful jaw, stopping the Pincer in its tracks and creating a significantly large crater beneath the white haired teen, his legs trembling from the strain although he managed to keep himself together.

"**YOOOOOUUUUUUUU…. BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!"**

Obviously not a fan of this development, a furious shriek escaped her lips as the Spider-Mom howled, raising her other Pincer to try and stab into Shiro's form, too blinded by fury and a powerful obsessive desire to stop him from bringing Jinako out of this literal 'prison', acting as essentially like the 'monster within her mind'. However, instead of letting his Armor tank it, Shiro decided to deflect the blow by thwacking away at it with Rashomon in it's beast form, letting it then bite off a part of it within its jaws which caused the monster to howl in a mix of anger and pain. Utterly outraged by this, the Spider-Mom tried to spew her webbing from the spider head, however Shiro stopped this by using the piece of the Pincer his Rashomon had snapped off as a makeshift weapon itself, stabbing it right into the woman's spider head from the top so it went into the top and jutted out it's bottom.

Induced more screams from her alright, which at this point Shiro wanted to find out how he could cut through her vocal chords just so she could shut the fuck up. But for now, the boy glanced over to the quivering female whom he'd been rescuing, his eyes narrowing.

**(OST END)**

As much as he hated to admit it, considering his low reserves and that he had about 2 more minutes before this Armour would sap the remaining amount of his energy, he would need her help to fight this bitch of a Spider-Mom, otherwise they might as well kiss escaping this place goodbye and spend the rest of their lives here… something which he refused to allow to happen no matter what, with an image of Brihanna's comatose form entering his mind. "Hey if you stay like that you would get killed by that spider!" he yelled, that image spurning him further and adding a rather hard tone onto his words, an unintentional action on his part but one he didn't regret.

Especially since it wound up snapping Jinako out of her terror-stricken stupor, though the look of unadulterated fright told him that it wasn't smooth sailing yet. "I-I don't know, what should I do?! She's my mother!"

At this point, Shiro decided to throw discretion to the winds and appeared before her, catching the fear-stricken girl by surprise and grabbing her by her neck. He then lifted her so she and him were on face level whilst making sure his grip wasn't too tight to the point where she couldn't breathe. "If that thing is your mother then why is she trying to kill us?! Face it Jinako this is not your mother, if she is then she would've let you go and be with your father!" he yelled into her face.

"I-I can't, I just don't know how!"

BONK!

"OW!"

Having had enough of her bullshit, Shiro slammed a fist on top of her head with enough force to leave a normal human in a coma, causing a yelp to escape from Jinako though. That demigod physiology really helped her there. Seconds later (Rashomon having formed from Threads to deflect various attacks from the Spider-Mom) she regained her posture as she glared at him while holding the top of her head, a bump the size of his fist forming there.

Shiro didn't give a crap though, as he proclaimed the following. "Listen, your father told me that he trusted me to get you out of here, but I can't because of this spider. Do you REALLY want to still believe that thing is your mother or accept that she is dead?!" he bellowed. "Cause believe me, if you think that THING has any maternal instincts, then you must have hit your head when you were a child or you don't know jack shit about what a REAL parent would do for their kids!" Part of him felt a bit hypocritical for saying that, but Shiro didn't give a shit right now, since he wanted to wake up that fighting spirit that lay dormant within her.

Normally he DESPISED cowardice, but not only did this girl have potential in her just from her lineage alone, but he could sense it within her by looking at the girl with the eyes of a warrior. If she could just break through this pointless fear she's in right now, then things would be MUCH easier for the lot of them in the long run.

As she digested his words, Jinako gazed into Shiro's eyes, her own widening in shock when she swore she saw the illusion of her mother behind him, smiling down at her. This lasted only a few seconds though, before she closed her eyes and reopened them, no longer seeing her mother there anymore. However, the vision did leave it's mark as she gripped her fists whilst gaining a determined expression. "You're… you're right, that thing…. Is not my mother, she is a monster only taking an appearance of her…" she muttered, glancing at the Spider-Mom who just finished batting away the Rashomon beast but not after it had smacked her upside the head leaving her a bit dazed. Still, that just made her narrow her eyes at it as she finally, finally took a look at it in its ENTIRETY. Instantly, she began to grow disgusted with both the hideous sight as well as herself for even THINKING that this was her mother. "...my real mother is dead, this creature mocks her by transforming into this. I'll make sure no one mocks my mother and if they do, I'll make sure to put their head on a stake or burn them alive!"

It was then that a light appeared over her, pretty much illuminating her form to the point where Shiro and the Spider-Mom (who had been intending to continue her assault on the boy) covered their eyes as it died down when they looked at her.

**(Play Rising of the Shield Hero OST - FAITH)**

Gone were her egyptian clothes, replaced by ones similar to what Ganesha wore although her figure remained like that of an hourglass comparable to a female model. Furthermore, she now had four arms instead of two, whilst in her lower right hand was an axe almost similar to her fathers, a spoon in her lower left hand. Finally, in her upper right side was a strange weapon that had a blade on top and a curve in the middle of it, and a pot of….. Dangos?

Whelp, he didn't care much, instead Shiro focused more on the fact that she was ready for combat now. "Listen, I'll use the last of my energy to finish her off, can you distract her for me?" Shiro questioned, glancing behind him at her after strolling close to the wailing Spider-Mom who was beginning to recover from the light show. He switched out his Kurogane for his Nightingale, holding it in his right hand as he began pumping his remaining power into the bow whilst applying Mana Burst to it. Something which he hadn't used throughout the entire time he'd been in this place. Whilst it was usually active, Shiro also suppressed the Skill from activating so it could only be used when he wanted to use it. Thus, thanks to this instead of just an energy arrow Shiro's Nightingale now had a larger, more fiery Arrow which was twice as large as the normal ones.

Meanwhile, Jinako nodded her head as she held her Axe and other objects at the ready. "Yessir!" she proclaimed, holding her Dango pot in front of her. She then proceeded to pluck some of them out with her spoon and launch them… this action may have seemed normal to the casual observer, but when Shiro eyed those Dango balls he noticed a surge of energy dwelling within them. This energy erupted within, turning the Dango balls into energy projectiles that slammed into the Spider-Mom's various legs, causing her to howl in anguish thanks to the hits leaving searing scorch marks behind.

"**AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGH! JINAKOOOOOO! I KNOW I DIDN'T RAISE YOU LIKE THAT! HOW DARE YOU HANG OUT WITH SUCH AN AWFUL CROWD! THE ONLY THING YOU SHOULD BE DOING, IS OBEYING MY ORDERS!"**

"Shut it! You're not my mom!" Jinako fired back, scooping up and launching more Dango projectiles at her opponent. These hit various parts of the spider legs keeping the Spider-Mom on the Pyramid. She didn't stop there though, as Jinako also jumped at one of her Pincers and rammed her head straight into it, smashing into the Pincer with enough force to blow it backwards before she brought her Axe down on the Spider head section, carving a deep gash into it though that was all she could have done before flipping off it and landing on the Pyramid.

"**YOOOOOOUUUUUUUUU! TALKING BACK TO YOUR MOTHER?! YOU REALLY HAVE BEEN WITH THAT NO-GOOD BRAT FOR TOO LONG, HAVEN'T YOU?!"**

At this, Shiro rolled his eyes whilst continuing to pump the arrow full of his energy, waiting for his precise moment to strike that would be provided by his companion. He even sealed up his Armour, putting himself back into his black outfit from before so he could focus solely on gathering the needed energy.

Meanwhile, Jinako formed multiple tick marks over her forehead, like the cowardly girl whom she had been before had never existed… Shiro had to internally admit, women could prove surprising on occasion. "Like I said, YOU'RE NOT MY MOM, YOU FUCKING BITCH!" She screeched, this time throwing her entire stash of Dango balls up into the air. Each one of them then fell down onto the Spider-Mom's legs like a meteor shower, smashing onto them with the force of an angry woman… essentially the force of a fierce typhoon.

Not a nice feeling to have, and also one which succeeded in dislodging the majority of the legs from the Pyramid.

With the loss of her balance, the Spider-Mom screeched in panic and fear as she tried to regain her footing, sliding down the Pyramid a bit before she managed to re-stabilize herself. Though, when she looked up, she noticed to her horror that the human head she sported was now much more level with the Pyramid platform… right alongside Shiro's notched fiery Arrow ready to be launched her way. Not to mention the glowing aura of power around Jinako which made the woman growl angrily.

"**Nnngh! Jinakooooo… if only I had never birthed you…!"**

"Sorry bitch, but it'll take more than that to bring me down." Jinako declared coldly, glancing over at Shiro with a nod of her head. "Shiro, here's your shot."

At this Shiro grinned…

And fired.

BOOM!

The arrow exploded into her now headless face as it spews out blood before it lost its balance at the pyramid and fell. Shiro and Jinako looked at her corpse down below, before the teen turned his blindfold-covered head and faced Jinako. "So, how do you feel now?" he questioned her, returning his Nightingale to his Coat.

Looking down at her right hand, her form having reverted back to the one he'd first seen her in when entering this dreamscape-like place, Jinako experimentally clenched and unclenched her fist. Her gaze showed him that she saw not just her hand, but her entire body as now alien to her, like she could hardly recognize it now. "I…. feel great. Like I'm finally... complete..." she muttered, though her tone implied she still didn't believe it completely just yet.

Nevertheless, Shiro figured that she would need time to accept this revelation, time which she could spend out in the real world instead of here, for the first time in a long while he believed. "I see, so are you finally able to get out of here?" he questioned, getting a nod from the brown haired girl.

"Yeah I can, all we have to do is cross that door." Jinako replied as she pointed at a tall door of light, similar in shape to the one which they'd opened to get access to this platform, that had appeared before them. Just before she could enter it however, Jinako looked behind her at him, blinking a few times before she asked whilst glancing to the side. "Will I… get to see you again?"

For a moment, Shiro began to think about what he could say, since he wondered about that himself. Perhaps they would meet in the real world if what he recalled before entering this place was accurate, plus she would likely be too preoccupied with the impending family reunion she'd be soon experiencing. "... maybe once we get out of here my job is getting you out of here." Still, he decided to put that aside for now and focused on the task at hand, getting this girl out into the real world and into the arms of her worried father.

"Ok…" She replied, nodding and seemingly perking up about that. Shiro recalled how Brihanna had once told him that when a man does something nice for a girl, especially as a first impression, he does leave a lasting impact on her. Therefore, what he did here probably qualified in her eyes even if he'd only done it at the request of another. Still, the following question she asked did pull him out of these thoughts for the time being. "You never told me your name… can I ask?" she questioned a bit timidly, her hands behind her back whilst she shuffled about nervously.

At first, Shiro remained silent, before he strode towards her and went past her, muttering the following words to her so only she could hear them. "... it's Shiro." Her eyes widened at this, but she didn't focus too much on it since she then followed him into the door as it began to glow so bright it covered the whole area.

* * *

"Uuuhhhhh... finally." His consciousness once again awoke inside the room he had been in when the elephant God had sent him into that pyramid maze. Shiro groaned as he got up from the floor, glancing to the side at the sounds of heavy footsteps which allowed him to witness an anxious Ganesha approaching him.

The man soon kneeled before him, placing his hands on his shoulders so their gazes could lock. Normally, Shiro would be uncomfortable at the close proximity, but looking into Ganesha's eyes told him everything that the God was feeling, and what he saw reminded him of human emotions so the fact that this God could feel them separated him from the Apostles Shiro had known, allowing him to be spared Shiro's wrath… though in all fairness, he likely wouldn't have been able to do anything since he'd spent all his power back in that fight. "Well is she…..?" Ganesha urgently asked.

Thus, Shiro nodded his head in response as he glanced at the unconscious girl. "She's good Ganesha, it won't be long until-" he began to say, only for the girl's form to start stirring from the realm of sleep, likely for the first time in a while.

"Uuuuhhhhh where….. Am I?" she mumbled, her eyes slowly opening which she found harder to do than she'd remembered, likely due to using some muscles that had not been active for a very long time.

Still, the sight of her being awake at ALL caused the God to develop small teardrops in his eyes "JINAKO!" Ganesha exclaimed as he almost pushed Shiro over when he rushed over to her side. The girl then began to sit up as her eyes flickered before her hands began to move around, trying to reach for her glasses. Ganesha, knowing that she couldn't see without them, handed her glasses as she began to see clearly.

Though, when he saw a guy with a literal elephant head for once, she looked like she was wondering if she was still in her little dream world. "A…. An elephant head?" she questioned, taking off her glasses and rubbing them with her covers before putting them on again.

The sight of this resulted in the God of Success to sigh in exasperation. "... hhhhhaaaaa, it wouldn't be the first time people said that to me but I'm glad you're alright." he told her, though through the exasperation the parental relief of knowing that she was alright could be felt.

Something which only confused her all the more as Jinako tilted her head in confusion, not understanding what this Elephant thing was talking about. "Who... are you?" she questioned him, though internally she also began to wonder… Why did he sound so familiar to her? Like she'd seen him somewhere before...

For a moment, Ganesha remained silent, his eyes showing the conflict raging within him as he debated on whether or not he should say the truth or not… before he finally decided on doing so since she had the right to know. He'd sensed that her power had awakened somehow not too long ago too, so that was also a deciding factor. "It would be hard for you to hear this, but i'll say it regardless. I'm Ganesha, God of beginnings, success and the remover of obstacles… also, I'm your father." he explained to her.

As such, Jinako's eyes shot wide open, a shocked gasp escaping her mouth as she covered it with her hands. For a moment, a tense and awkward silence overcame the room, one which caused Ganesha to fidget in discomfort since he could predict what the girl who grew up without knowing about him would ask him. His instincts came true when she finally found the voice she had temporarily lost from that revelation. "... where have you been this whole time? Why haven't you visited us?" she questioned him, not with a tone of anger like Ganesha had expected and somewhat hoped for, but worse: one of confusion and hurt, something which stung the God's soul especially with the growing dejection in her eyes.

Something which tore the God's soul apart as he tried to keep his cool. Though one look at him could easily show that it wasn't going all too well. "It's not easy Jinako I would've spent some time with you when I had the chance, but my duties as a God were stopping me." he told her, before proceeding to say something else whilst he had the chance. "Your mother… she knew everything about me, including why I left as I made sure she knew the truth. She was fine with it… with everything, despite the sadness I'd see in her eyes…"

After his admission, Jinako looked down at her lap, having adjusted so she was in the japanese sitting position with her legs spread out in a V shape. Still, her bangs covered her eyes as she took in the fidgeting God's words whilst Shiro remained silent, not wanting to intrude on this awkward moment. "... I've been wondering when you would appear, you know. When you would come and take me away from my relatives after how they have been treating me..." she told him slowly, her tone barely above a whisper as Ganesha's beady black eyes gazed at her in shock and confusion.

"... what? Treating you? Didn't they treat you well?" he questioned, obviously showing how he didn't understand the words she said.

Before she could respond to those words after a moment of uncomfortable silence, her form shuddering as memories played themselves in the back of her mind, Shiro finally decided to step into the talk between father and daughter. "Let me explain." he declared, getting to his feet before he walked forward. This resulted in Jinako looking up to see him before widening her eyes.

"You….. you were in my dream!" she exclaimed, pointing her right hand's index finger at him in shock whilst the limb trembled visibly.

Shiro nodded his head in agreement to this, before he sat on the far side of the bed. "Yes, but your dad will explain it later to you. Ganesha, I'll be blunt: they abused her, and it looks like there were other details you weren't made aware of. I've seen proof in her memories." he told the Elephant God whilst intentionally omitting the specifics. THOSE belonged to Jinako, so it would be her choice whether to share them or not.

Though with the look of horror and shock on Ganesha's face, those details may be coming to light soon enough anyways, as the God turned his gaze towards his daughter. "... what? They did what to her? Jinako, is it true?" he asked her, hoping that Shiro was making this up.

"I…"

"It's alright Jinako, just tell me."

"... Yes, they blamed me for mom's death. They kept saying that I caused her death, saying I shouldn't exist." she explained, looking down as she hugged the pillow closer to her chest whilst trying not to break down from the memories. She'd sworn to make those who hurt her mother pay dearly after all. "They'd do horrible things because of that: beat me… take my first from me... lock me in my room, didn't let me eat or bathe for long periods… I felt like an animal back then, not a person…" she admitted, causing BOTH males to go wide eyed in horror. Even Shiro. "When mom died… I felt something prickle me when I escaped… I didn't know what it was, but about a year later I… I just blacked out. Next thing I know, I'm in that dream…"

'...Holy shit, I had thought that she had bad experiences, but THAT bad…?!' The boy thought, genuinely shocked and appalled. For the first time, he felt glad to be an orphan, if parents were capable of this. It usually took a lot to surprise him, but this definitely succeeded in that.

On the other hand, Ganesha's face turned tomato red in rage, his fists tightening to the point where they sported multiple veins thanks to the fury of a pissed off father rushing through his veins. He could hardly believe it, his daughter was abused by the people he trusted to take care of her in his absence… made him wonder why his wife hadn't said anything about the depths of their potential for cruelty, but that wasn't important for him. Jinako, his little girl, she'd gone through all that without him being any the wiser! "Those bastards! When I see them I'll-"

"Calm down son or else you'll scare my granddaughter."

They turned their back to see who spoke, he had four arms, a pair on top of his shoulders. He has three eyes that are shown when he's calm. There are also those stripes of bandanas crossing his head. His trousers are baggy and airy and he had no shoes. His hair is green and black hair which looks more bluish. He has a sharp eye possessing bottomless divinity and limitless superiority that causes people to shiver in fear. Though, right now Ganesha's fatherly rage prompted him to speak up despite this presence. "Father, these people abused her, kept this a secret from us!"

"I know, and you have the right to be angry Ganesha, but right now your divinity is leaking out almost causing a storm in our territory. Calm down and act like a god of wisdom." The man stated sternly, crossing his arms under his chest as he radiated an aura of authority around him.

Something which forced the angry God to start coming back to his senses, lest he do something far worse than vent his well-deserved parental fury on helpless innocents. "...(INHALE)(EXHALE) your right father, I should act like a wise God. But, my little girl…"

Seeing Ganesha's distraught state, the man nodded his head in agreement to this as he made the following statement. "She is awake now Ganesha that's all it matters. Nevertheless, it's been proven that these people have committed a sin big enough that we cannot ignore. Therefore, in the name of my name SHIVA, **I CURSE THOSE PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT LOVED MY JINAKO TO NEVER REACH SUCCESS, THEY WILL NEVER REACH PARADISE FOR THEY NOW BELONG TO NARAKA!"**

Following this declaration, Shiro could feel the power from Shiva as he began to sweat in fear. A loud, thunderous explosion was heard big enough for the whole people that are in heaven to hear, prompting them to sweat bullets whilst a few wondered who could have caused lord Shiva's anger.

Meanwhile, back in the room Jinako's eyes widened as she heard that Shiva cursed the people who abused her, before the God who was apparently her grandfather went to her side. "Remember Jinako, no matter what there are people who care about you." he told her gently, a small but affectionate smile on his face as he pulled her into a warm hug.

The following surge of warmth pretty much broke the damn inside of her, prompting Jinako eyes to become wet with unshed tears. Tears filled with happiness and joy to see the love she finally gets after being with her other relatives for so long. "Thank you…." she mumbled into the God's embrace, relishing in the moment for all that it was worth.

A moment or two later, the two separated as Shiva began to address her in a grandfatherly manner. "Now, why don't you and Ganesha spend some time in Mount Kailash? I'm sure that Paravati will be excited to see you finally awake. I'm sure that you and Ganesha need to catch up."

"As you wish father, come Jinako let's go see your grandmother. I'm sure she would love to see you."

"... Alright, dad." Jinako then got off her bed as she wobbled when her father caught her to get her balanced. Looked like she would need time to get used to her body again, since it hadn't been properly used for a long time now, the girl noticed as well as her father.

Still, this didn't bother them as they then walked out of the room leaving Shiro and Shiva alone.

Turning to him, Shiva spoke to Shiro with a grateful smile on his lips. "Young man, I thank you for awakening my granddaughter, you have no idea how much this means to use, I knew you were the right person who can fix her."

"... I did this only because it would speed up the recovery of Brihanna nothing else." he replied coolly, however if one looked into his eyes like Shiva did, it would show that there was slightly more to it than that.

Still, he didn't press for those feelings for now, opting to address the more current issue at hand here. "Ahhhh Arjuna's descendant, a noble cause that will be fraught with hardships, I fear. Still, Paravati will be happy to see her granddaughter, I can imagine it already. Oh can't forget Kali and Durga, they would absolutely love to see her. Anyway still this debt will not go unpaid."

"...How can I even receive a god's debt if they can't honor it?"

"Hah! Some gods are prideful and arrogant that they would not honor it, but not us. We Hindu Gods will honor it because we will never break our words, you have earned your rights to receive the Brahmastra!"

Shiva put his finger on Shiro's head as he received the energy that flooded into him before Shiva pulled his hand as Shiro looked at his red aura as he could feel new energy in him. Thus, it prompted him to question the God on what the heck he had done to him just now. Not to mention why his Rashomon seemed to almost purr like a kitten regarding it, seemingly appreciating the gesture. "What…. Is this?"

"The Brahmastra, an astra made by my fellow Trimurti Brahma, this astra is also given to Karna, your ancestor. This astra will help you a lot, young man, but be warned: this astra can be dangerous if you're not careful when you're in a populated area. Its power is so great it can destroy a high ranking god if not an ultimate god level, so use it carefully young man, train it with Karna to control it."

"... I will."

* * *

**AN:**

**Yo, hunter here, and welcome to the next Frenzy chapter. Not going to lie, whilst the fight scene with the final monster leaves a bit to be desired if you ask me, I'd say it's a decent one considering this is the first time I tried anything like this. Shiro also now has a similar Astra to what Karna once had, though unlike him his version won't be cursed so he has more free reign on its use. Furthemore, now Jinako has been freed and has had a past similar to Futaba Sakura from Persona 5. This also concludes this arc, everybody. Hope you like and look forward to the next chapter. **

**PEACE OUT!**

**Ahhhh man this was exhausting!... My name is Darklord, bringing you another chapter of the series! Now like what my partner said about the astra he can use it but on less populated are or another dimension like the rating game, it can cause a massive destruction if he is not careful so he won't use it often unless he has to. For the appearance of Shiva, think Record of Ragnarok, you should see it. I recommend it, and Ganesha's form is from the SMITE game. For Jinakos power it's similar to her fate and SMITE so we won't spoil it, you'll have to wait and see. Alright thank you reading our story, be sure to leave a review if you want and I'll see you next time!**

**GOOD LUCK!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Timeskip 2 months **

These past months since Shiro saved Jinako, since Shiva had seen fit to grant him the Brahmastra, something which only his Ancestor had obtained previously. Speaking of said Ancestor, Karna couldn't help but be proud of his descendent when he had heard the news of Shiro's recent achievement, accomplishing such a difficult task.

As such, he had taken it upon himself to train Shiro on how to use the Brahmastra, knowing from past experience that much was needed for it to be fully mastered, let alone to a point where Shiro could use it effectively in battle. The Astra had been exactly like what Shiva had said when Shiro had seen the damage uon using it for the first time, he could honestly say that it would be on par with a nuclear warhead if he wasn't careful. Karna taught him the Brahmastra Kundala, a projectile that gained his fiery attribute which from one blow was likened to a nuclear weapon (considering what he'd seen, Shiro had been inclined to agree). It also could be used on a bow, and would serve as Shiro's hidden trump card, having bestowed Brahmastra with the sweltering heat effect of his Mana Burst (Flames) to increase its already wide effective range and power exceptionally.

He could use it to imbue his spear with flames by rapidly spinning it, before subsequently throwing it high into the air. Random projectiles of flame would then rain down over a period of time, though he could only use it when he was not donning his armor since it would rapidly drain his energy. Another thing Karna had taught him was the laser beam, one which appeared as a visualization of his intimidating stare from his right red eye normally hidden by his hair, resembling a beam shooting from his eye, kinda like almost similar to a famous comic book superman.

But, Shiro was not the only one training at this point, for Jinako had also decided to train with him after a week of recovery. He could still remember it, even now.

* * *

**Flashback**

"I want to join you, Shiro."

Shiro paused his thoughts whilst heading to his usual training area, as Jinako approached him. Turning to look behind him at her, the boy saw how she had a determined facial expression as he looked at her. "... what, what do you mean Jinako?" he questioned whilst wondering where this had come from. Not to mention he wanted to know if he had heard her right.

Turned out he did when she elaborated on what she had previously stated. "I want to join you on hunting those... Apostles." At the end there, Shiro saw how she winced at the mention of the word Apostles, though there wasn't any hesitation regarding Apostles themselves, but more along the lines of what they had done to her according to what he saw in her eyes.

Still, he couldn't just accept such a blatantly reckless request like this, and not just due to his warrior pride either. "... what makes you think I would accept you, Jinako? You saw in your dreams how dangerous they are." he questioned, reminding her of their time inside her mind when he had fought various monsters to get her out into the real world. Those didn't even count as TRUE Apostles in his mind, and he knew what they were really like so he had enough experience to say that.

Something which Jinako was aware of, though it didn't stop her from pressing her case against him. Her eyes heated up with a look which almost left Shiro stunned, for it looked so similar to what he saw whenever he looked in the mirror: the gaze of someone with a burning desire for revenge. "They killed my mother, ruined my life so I want payback for what they did, including those God Hand." she explained.

Even so, Shiro still didn't think she would be ready for such a thing, nor did he think she fully understood what kind of journey that she would be choosing to undertake. Unlike him, she had the choice of living a peaceful life with her father and grandfather. "... still, you would be a bigger target because you are a demigod, which they will use to try and find you." he told her.

Jinako nonetheless vehemently shook her head, letting her long brown hair sway about in the directions she shook it in. "I don't care if they do find me, if they do then I'll kill them. I'll kill every one last of them I will pay them back for what they did to my mother." She explained, narrowing her eyes at him. "Even if you say no, I won't stop until all of them are gone."

For a moment, Shiro pondered on what to do here, he would have tried to say something, but since Jinako had that look in her eyes which he usually had, Shiro understood the fact that she would do this whether he accepted or refused her help. Also, he wasn't foolish enough to think that he could take on an entire army of Apostles all by himself, he'd barely survived against them back during the Eclipse. As much as he wanted to do things on his own, Shiro saw benefits to having competent companions as well, benefits which had been broadened thanks to his Ancestor's guidance. Thus, in the end the male sighed, looking like he had given up on changing the girl's mind. "... fine, but if you die it won't be on me."

"Thank you, Shiro."

"Think nothing of it. In any case, you need to get yourself into proper fighting form, so go to your father since you may have inherited some of his powers."

* * *

**Flashback end**

As such, Jinako had done just that, requesting to be trained by her Father in how to fight and become powerful enough to contest against Apostles. Of course, her father had not been too much of a fan of this, mostly out of fear that he'd lose his daughter but Jinako had persuaded him into it. She'd wanted to avenge her mother no matter what, she just couldn't rest knowing that even though they'd killed a REPRESENTATION of the Apostle in her mind, the REAL one was still out there somewhere, causing bloodshed and chaos whilst getting off scot free for what it had done to her.

Thus, with a heavy heart, Ganesha had agreed to train her but he'd made SURE to let her know how it wouldn't be easy for her, that she could stop at any time she wanted. Though, her desire to get stronger wouldn't allow her to stop even if she wanted to. She had her pride, and even though she had managed to get her body to a decent standard of functionality after some practice, she HAD to get better for her vengeance. Something which as much as he didn't want to admit it, Shiro could understand. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, Shiro could respect that in a person in all honesty.

Though Shiro, Karna and Ganesha had to admit, Jinako DEFINITELY had potential. As a Hindu demigod, Jinako's intellect should be high, specializing in science and wisdom. She'd become quite a skilled fighter as well, ending up being capable of keeping up with the likes of Karna which he had praised her about. She also has good analytical skills, using her seemingly useless knowledge of otaku culture as a tool to analyze some peoples plans when she gets the right information.

Furthermore, since she was a demigod of Ganesha the Remover of Obstacles, she could forcefully purify the aspects that make Ganesha "A god that removes obstacles", making an absolute and impenetrable area that could be considered her 'Domain', one that cannot be entered and no action can be taken against unless they had her permission. It was one that would appear whenever Jinako used her ability as a God who removed obstacles, with its versatility not losing out to the also heavily versatile Rashomon. If it was used offensively, with absolute force, it would end up wiping away and even push back any obstacle/attack in front of her eyes. Of course, it could be used as an absolute shield as well, one that protected her from any obstacle/attacks when used defensively which made her a rather deadly opponent on the battlefield.

In addition to this, she could use her Divine Energy to create projectile attacks like she did with her Dangos on that Spider-Mom, which led to that form she'd taken during that specific battle. Apparently, according to Ganesha since she was a pure Demigod unlike Shiro, she had more access to her potential with divine energy than him which resulted in that form coming out faster. It was known as the 'Godly Trigger' which functioned in a similar way to the 'Devil Trigger' which Jinako had mentioned from a game series about hacking away at Demons stylishly, an alternate form which boosted her strength, speed and endurance with a healing factor to boot. Karna had mentioned to Shiro that perhaps some day he too could attain his Godly Trigger, but it would take longer and he would have to work harder than Jinako due to being a descendent, not a direct Demigod.

As for her weapon and martial skills, they were coming along nicely as she had decided to hone them in case she ran out of her divine energy, her preferred weapon of choice being a pair of Axes, ones which she kept sheathed on her hips. Their names were Hoarfrost and Okin, and these Axes had been given to her as a reward for her doing so well in her training by her Father. Apparently, they were Axes which had icy elements imbued into them, thus they could potentially freeze the opponents they struck to slow them down or stop them entirely. For now though, she could only use one of them at a time since she hadn't gotten the hang of dual wielding yet.

In current times, they continued to train with Karna on their physical attacks. That is, until a servant approached them. "My lord, lord Vishnu is requesting lord Shiro and lady Jinako." The servant explained, having gotten onto one knee and lowered his head.

Upon hearing this, Karna raised a brow for a moment as he wondered what Vishnu would want with these two. A few seconds later, his eyes widened when he recalled how that specific God had been one of the leading experts on Apostle-related matters… something which pretty much defined these two considering their goals. "I see, they will be there soon." he finally spoke after a moment's worth of contemplation.

"Ok, by your permission." The servant responded, standing upright before turning and leaving the area. As they watched the Servant go, Shiro and Jinako then put away their weapons before saying goodbye to their teacher.

In no time at all, they now walked through the large, vast halls. Though, their silence didn't last long as Jinako glanced over at him, her eyebrow arched. 'Hey Shiro, you think we finally have the chance to hunt those Apostles?'

Shiro glanced back at her, arching a brow of his own as well. 'I hope so, we can finally get the chance to hunt them. I've been craving the chance to finally sink Kurogane and Rashomon into those bastards.' he replied, the male and Jinako hearing the sound of Rashomon growling in eagerness, excited at the thought of shredding through Apostle flesh.

This was a conversation that happened not through the movement of lips, but of thoughts instead. Not long into their training, Shiro and Jinako had discovered that they had the ability to give out mental thoughts to each other. They discovered this ability when Jinako mentally wondered how Shiro could put so much pressure on her during training, to which he had naturally answered that question. However, she hadn't actually said it out loud which had caused them to become quite... surprised, to say the least, not to mention confused and concerned.

Fortunately, when they had sought help from Ganesha who had been their supervisor at the time since Karna had other matters to attend to, the Elephant God had then theorized how they obtained this ability was a side effect of when Shiro had gone into Jinako's mind. Apparently, the side effect came from long-term exposure to this, combined with the close proximity to each other's minds. Apparently, the spell Ganesha had used sent Shiro right into her mind at the time, but this had various potential effects since the brain was so incredibly complex. Such effects could have included memory loss, becoming retarded, or worse becoming braindead. However, the one which could be considered the 'best outcome' was that the minds would become so intrinsically linked to one another that they'd establish a 'connection' to one another, giving them the ability to transfer thoughts to one another via signals through this 'channel' after the brains were separated.

Turned out, Shiro and Jinako had gotten this mental link, which was not only a lucky break for them but also a pretty useful ability, as well as a powerful connection between the two. When in case they were separated, they could know where they are at and how to find each other when they get lost aside from being able to telepathically communicate. Though, through some tests they had discovered that the link could be turned on and off, that Jinako could hear his Sacred Gear when the link was activated, as well as the fact that the further away from one another they were, the fainter their voices in each other's heads until the link could no longer be used as a means of communication.

Now, as they approached a massive Indian doorway there sitting on the air was a tall, attractive man with tan skin and a muscular build. He had golden eyes and very long, purple hair tied up into a ponytail. He wore floor-length purple and white robes, a white turban with feather decorations, and pointed red shoes. He also seemed to like wearing a lot of jewelry, similar to a modern woman Shiro had mentally noted, though the link had been shut off so nobody would be the wiser.

As they approached him, the man opened his eyes showing yellow colored irises as he saw them before smiling. "Ahhhh it's good to meet you two: descendent of Karna and daughter of Ganesha."

Jinako stepped forwards whilst Shiro remained silent. "It is lord Vishnu, how can we help you?" she questioned, knowing that between the two of them she was the more sociable of the two. Shiro COULD do it, but he's way more blunt than her, she could use her many conversations with him as a reference to this.

Something which Vishnu somehow knew if the knowing smile on his lips was any indication. "Straight to the point I see? Alright I have a mission for the two of you, you see I need Jinako to act as a diplomatic person to go to the shinto territory where you will meet the shinto gods there." he told them, much to the confusion of the two teens.

"Diplomatic? Why can't you send someone else, someone like my father or any of the gods? Surely you must've had another reason why you're sending us..." Jinako questioned, tilting her head in confusion. As the elder of the two, Jinako being 19 compared to 18 year old Shiro, she had to assume a more responsible role for him as his elder. Though that didn't mean Shiro would let her order him around like a damn slave, something which she wouldn't ever do anyways.

Still, her words seemed to amuse Vishnu as he let out an interested bout of laughter at her observation. "Hah! You're just like your father, always the smart person. The true reason why I'm sending the two of you is because some time ago an Apostle escaped our territory despite our containment efforts, efforts that we have had set up for a long time. Despite our best efforts, it won't be long until the rest of the supernatural world finds out about their existence, so it's time to make our move. Jinako you are to act as a diplomat with Shiro acting as your bodyguard in this foreign territory. Once you're there, you will investigate their territory to find the Apostle, find it and kill it. Do you two accept?" he asked them, though in reality he knew that the moment he had mentioned about the Apostle he had already gotten their answers.

Proof came when Jinako nodded, a grin of excitement spreading across her lips as a look of sadistic glee started forming in her eyes. "We accept, lord Vishnu." she told him, an almost haunting giggle escaping her lips that, though Vishnu wouldn't admit it, sent chills down his spine.

Though, that was NOTHING compared to the downright beastly grin which Shiro sported, the faint silhouette of Rashomon in it's true form looming over him whilst mimicking his grin asbest it could, its lightning bolt-shaped eyes burning like the fiery pits of hell depicted by humans. "Finally, I get the chance to hunt them down." he mused, a faint chuckle that promised nothing short of chaos escaping his lips.

Despite how utterly nervous he felt inside Vishnu made it a point to conceal these feelings behind a pleased smile. "Good, now good luck on your mission. I've already received permission from them for this, so don't worry about any hostile welcoming committees. Once you two are there, find the Apostle and utterly PURGE that abomination from this world before it continues its rampage. Oh! Also take this."

Vishnu then threw a disc to Shiro as he caught it. Bringing the thing to his eye level, the descendant of Karna saw that it was a battle disc, one with golden color though he didn't sense much power from it. "This disc is proof of you two being sent by me, just in case they don't recognize you. Whilst they do know that I'm sending in a representative to act for the Hindu Pantheon, it's best to have backup plans if things go awry, which they tend to do more often than not. Now then…."

SNAP!

A magic circle appeared in the middle of the room as Vishnu summoned it, prompting the two kids to walk to it. As they did so, Vishnu spoke one last time. "Good luck once again, you two. I have faith that you will succeed."

Jinako nodded her head. "We will lord Vishnu." she replied whilst Shiro just nodded, wordlessly.

They then disappeared as Vishnu looked at it before sighing. "You sure it was a good idea to send them Shiva?"

A figure was out of the column, it was Shiva hiding behind the column. "Yes it was Vishnu, it's time we have to make our move since the God hand is becoming more active."

At this, Vishnu glanced at him with a concerned frown."But one of them is your granddaughter, Shiva. You're sending her to a dog eats dog world." he stated.

Though, it wasn't something the other God wasn't aware of, as he stepped out into plain view. "I know Vishnu, and normally I wouldn't have let her near those things, but two circumstances change this: one, she's got a grudge against the Apostles for what happened to her mother. Two, Karna's descendent told us that there is a fifth God Hand member, one that was formed right under our noses. They are complete which means they will make their next move, meaning we will have to make our move against them quickly, it's time we no longer have to be held back."

"I see….. I don't like this, Shiva."

"Me neither, as much as it pressures my heart and my wives, especially Paravati, we have to. They need to become stronger in order to stand against the God Hand. You know as well as I and all the Hindu Gods just how powerful yet monstrous they are."

"... I'll trust your judgment on this one then Shiva, I hope your future predicting is right."

"I hope so Vishnu but sometimes the future can be unpredictable."

"Indeed Shiva."

* * *

Later, within a large forest deep within Japanese territory, all remained silent and normal. Skies remained clear due to it being a rather beautiful afternoon, with the air being as clear as it possibly could be. That is, before a magic circle appeared within a small clearing which then rose upwards, forming a pair of silhouettes which materialized into a proper physical form. Once this happened, the magic circle dispelled, leaving the two teens Jinako and Shiro alone in the vast wilderness.

Looking around for their target, Jinako then turned to her fellow companion with a quizzical look on her face. "Do you know how to look for the Apostle Shiro?" she questioned him, prompting the male to shake his head negatively whilst pocketing his hands inside his coat.

"No, they would come to us instead Jinako." he replied simply, proceeding to walk forwards in a seemingly random direction.

So, she went and followed behind him, hands behind her back as she kept pace with him. "What do you mean?" She questioned once more, a frown on her lips. Between the two of them, Shiro had the most experience with these kinds of things so she found it strange that he would answer in such a way.

In response, the male glanced behind him at her through the corner of his left eye. "Simple, see this brand?" He questioned, moving his body so she could see the Brand of Sacrifice on his neck. The moment she saw it, the blackette couldn't help but wince since the Brand alone looked like it had been burned into his skin… something which she wasn't that far off on to be frank. "Those damn Apostles can sense it's presence, not to mention the spirits of the dead are drawn to this thing like a moth to a flame. The more Apostles sense it, the more I have to slaughter them. Most of the time it happens at night since that's when they are the most active, not to mention that there's literally NO place for me to rest since they can come at me at any time. It's why I sleep for so few hours." He explained, frowning as he recalled the multiple attempts of finding a place of safety where the Apostles and Spirits wouldn't be able to get him, only for them to end in vain which forced him to confront them head on every time. He'd gotten quite good at killing them by now though, so it wasn't all bad. Another thing came to him as he thought about this, prompting Shiro to gesture to her stomach with his left hand. "Also, with your demigod heritage there is no way they would ignore you, either. Best be ready for combat at any time, cause that's the kind of world those who are branded like me are forced into."

The way he looked at her at that moment, it sent chills down her spine as a worried frown marred her lips. Judging from what she'd heard from him, it would seem like that Brand would draw out their prey to them, in addition to the fact that it acted like a radar alongside a beacon for these creatures. She didn't know how to feel about such things, but yeah. "I see... So, we just walk around until the Apostle comes to us?"

"Pretty much."

Shiro's simple reply came swift and precise, so Jinako looked around the vicinity with observant eyes, already planning on what they should do next until that time came where the Apostle would come to them. "...We could get lost here without any food or water Shiro, so we should probably find shelter. How can we have the energy to even fight these things without having anything to eat?" she questioned him after a moment's worth of silence.

For a moment, the white haired male remained silent though he had stopped walking. He'd paused to think about it for a few seconds, before he placed his right hand over his blindfold-covered face in indignation, exhaling through his nose. "... hhhaaaa, I hate it when you're right. Hold on." He told her, getting her attention for what he had in mind. Her confusion only grew though when the white haired teen put his fingers inside his mouth before blowing a whistle.

WHISTLE!

It lasted only a few seconds, but the pitch had been quite high, almost enough to fill their vast surroundings. Afterwards, Shiro took his fingers away from his hand whilst they waited there in the clearing. After a few minutes of waiting, an increasingly confused Jinako looked at Shiro whilst being unable to handle it anymore. "Was that supposed to do anything?" she asked him.

"Wait for it."

NEEEEIIIIGGGGHHHH!

A horse sound was heard as they looked up, and whilst Shiro's face remained impassive though his blindfold made this a bit harder to see, Jinako's jaw fell open when they saw what looked like a horse running through the air, descending down towards their position from the clouds above until it stopped by them. It was a majestic horse that was black on everywhere on its skin, including its hair.

Gazing upon it, Jinako's eyes looked like miniature galaxies with all the stars in them, quickly showcasing how enamored with the horse she had become. "What…. Is that horse?" she questioned her companion.

Said companion strode forwards"This is a black horse that came from Vayujit, Karna's horse. I call him blackjack because of his black fur." Shiro replied as he stroked the horse's fur softly and tenderly.

"I see… it looks beautiful. I've never seen any horse like this."

The boy nodded his head at those words, before proceeding to explain what that had been the case for his new companion. "That's because this is a divine horse, one that's always taken care of by the servants in hindu heaven. Karna wanted to give me a horse incase if I don't have any energy to run or walk."

Jinako nodded her head in understanding of this point, she herself knew that one's stamina wasn't limitless like one would like to think, so having transportation would always be essential. "That makes sense."

After she commented about this, Shiro proceeded to hop onto Blackjack's back, which had a Saddle already prepped with some reins strapped to his snout (yes, the horse is male). Once the boy had gotten himself comfortable, the male had Blackjack trot over to Jinako's side as he put his hand for Jinako. "Get on. We can look for shelter easier this way." he told her, and if she were to see his eyes at the moment then she would see the intensity behind their gaze.

Still, Jinako nodded her head in agreement, a light shade of pink on her cheeks as she took the outstretched hand in hers. She then used it to hop onto the horse's back, ending up sitting behind her male companion with her arms wrapped around his waist for support so she didn't fall off. Shiro then made Blackjack go forward by cracking the reins, prompting them to enter a slow gallop. They pass the forest and through the mountains as they look at the ocean on the right before Shiro focuses on going to shelter.

* * *

**Later**

A while of riding later, the two teens slowed down when they approached a huge shipyard, one which looked to be quite populated with all kinds of people going about their business. Before they entered the village, it was decided between them that they shouldn't bring a horse into it, so Shiro whispered something into Blackjack's ear which prompted the horse to run off. Fortunately, according to the white haired male, Blackjack was an intelligent divine horse which knew how to avoid danger not to mention had strong vitality. Hence, why he would be fine out in the wilderness.

Afterwards, the two casually walked along a pathway through the shipyard, and along the way Shiro and Jinako kept their guards up since various men around them had been trying to 'discretely' (meaning, out in plain sight) eyeing the feminine of the two lustfully, something which disturbed the 19 year old gir on multiple levels. As someone who had been 'defiled' by men before, her own family no less, she held even more distaste for such looks than the average woman, thus she stayed closer to her 'bodyguard' (Shiro, who 'convinced' the men to leave them alone thanks to his intimidating appearance) as they walked around. Sometimes for those who intended to ignore the warning signs and sweet talk Jinako out of her companion's space, Shiro would pull out his spear for intimidation which did its job in telling the pervs that he meant business. As such, they backed away from him before they could get themselves hurt, or worse.

Eventually, they reached a building which looked to be like some kind of residential area, where two guards with old fashion guns abruptly pointed their weapons at Shiro (who had Kurogane out still), prompting him to stare back at them. Before anything bad could happen though which would only make their mission harder in the long run, a man's voice got heard from a short distance away. "Hey boy, what's you and the girls business here?" When the masculine voice spoke, both kids looked up and saw a man with so many tattoos on his body, face, and head. He looked like the type of person who one shouldn't mess with, if they didn't want to have a bad time that is.

Seeing that Shiro wouldn't mind starting a fight here judging by her past experiences with him and how he gripped his Spear's shaft, Jinako chose to be the mediator of the two. "... We are looking for food and shelter for the time being." she told the man, who hummed thoughtfully for a moment. He did give Shiro the stink eye for a bit, though, which the male returned in full.

Nevertheless, professionalism was necessary at the moment, so the man cleared his throat and asked the following question of her. "Hmmmm and how much you will pay for it, girl? We don't accept paper money since it is of no use to us."

Shiro then put a hand on the inside of his coat before throwing it to the man as he caught it, when he opened it he saw a silver coin with a square hole in the middle. Since they are in a remote area where people don't adapt to the modern day, Ganesha gave Shiro all the money for the people who liked the past era, just in case they didn't want modern money.

The tattoo man pulled a silver coin as he inspected it before seeing the real deal, which resulted in him nodding his head in approval. "Hmmmm... it's a pleasure doing business with you two.. Now then, I must be off so these men will guide you to the food area. Remember, no funny business or else." he warned the two at the end there, getting some silent nods from the two teens. With that said, the man left as the two guards then pulled away their guns before beckoning them to follow them.

As they followed the two guards, the teens then passed a wooden door where they heard the sounds of people screaming within, prompting the curious Jinako to ask one of their escorts. "Um, sir? What are those people doing in there...?"

One of their escorts soon replied whilst not looking back at them, his tone that of nonchalance which sort of reminded her of how Shiro usually acted towards anything that wasn't to do with training or the Apostles. "That's the arena where a special guest, a half breed girl, is fighting. She's becoming quite famous over the past week."

"I see…"

A half breed girl? When she heard that, a pang of camaraderie befell the young half indian girl who looked down in contemplation. Judging from what she had heard, she had run into a fellow hybrid, something which she found herself gradually becoming excited about since back in the Indian heaven she had been the only Hybrid in there and she didn't really socialize with too many people outside her father, Shiro and her grandfather Shiva. Mostly due to her trauma with her family making it difficult for her to trust people so easily. Her father and grandfather were exceptions since they were her 'true' family in a sense, whilst Shiro… well, one could say he was both her knight in shining armour (although she'd actually refer to him as the black spearman more than anything) as well as the man who would become her first companion in her quest for vengeance against the Apostles for what they'd done to her.

But, even so Jinako knew for a fact that living like that wasn't the healthy way to live, not to mention that the possibility of meeting a fellow Hybrid wasn't something which she could ignore either. Thus, she turned her curious yet hopeful gaze to the descendent of Karna as she proceeded to question him. "Hey Shiro, do you think when we have the chance, we can go visit that arena?"

For a moment, Shiro remained silent as he eyed her out the corner of his left eye. He didn't even need to open a mental link to read her thoughts on this matter, they were pretty much written all over her face, though he could understand her position on this. He had noticed how sometimes she would have these brief flashes of loneliness in her eyes during training, and back then he had been confused as to why though he didn't ask, Karna having told him that girls have many secrets and were complicated creatures. However, upon hearing the news about this girl as well as her true nature, Shiro had begun to realize why Jinako had those lonely moments, though he nonetheless felt internally frustrated at why she couldn't just tell him these things herself. He'd give his opinion to her straight and without any BS, so she knew exactly where he'd stand.

Still, this mission took priority since this was the first time he got to hunt an ACTUAL Apostle instead of them being drawn to his Brand. That was something which both of them knew, yet the more he looked at her gaze the more Shiro realized that she likely would pester him about this till he agreed. Therefore, with a roll of his eyes the white haired male gave a long sigh. "As long as it doesn't waste our time, yes, let's hope nothing will go wrong."

* * *

"...I stand corrected."

"...Next time, don't say that ever again."

"...Agreed."

Just for forty minutes after the two had gotten food and water for a few days, a riot broke out in the area which resulted in people going left and right in a frenzied panic with there being no signs of things calming down soon.

Whilst Shiro and Jinako looked around whilst walking, a young girl suddenly appeared in front of them, already on the offensive as she slashed her sword in Shiro's direction. Luckily for him, his instincts remained on point, alongside a warning growl from Rashomon, resulting in him grabbing the weapon by its blade and holding it in place. He didn't feel too threatened, if at all actually, so instead of just bisecting the attacker in front of him, Shiro looked to see who it was instead. Thanks to this, his blindfold-covered eyes laid sight upon a young girl clad in tattered clothing, like some kind of beggar one would find on the streets as her eyebrows were kinda odd to Shiro. However, the way she struggled to get her sword out took his attention once again, making him put the matter of her weird eyebrows aside for the time being. "So… you are the cause of the commotion." he muttered, narrowing his eyes behind his blindfold.

"There!"

People were aiming at Shiro and the girl as he looked at Jinako before sighing.

"I'm going to regret this."

He let go of the girl as he pulled out his Nightingale, an action which surprised others(except Jinako) as he shot the pursuers. Afterwards, he glanced behind him at her before a japanese man came to them.

"Ushiwakamaru!"

"Lord Oishi!"

The man came to her as he looked at Shiro and Jinako, confused for a moment and wondering whether they were friend or foe since they didn't look anything like the locals here.

However, that would soon be concluded in the next few seconds, when more men came shooting guns at them. Instinctively, Shiro summoned Rashomon from the back of his Coat to protect them by forming it's barrier in front of them, all the while he spoke without looking at the two. "If you can stop looking at me, it's better to get out here. Looks like these guys have lumped us all together as enemies to be captured or killed."

"Alright young man, lets go!"

Following this statement from the japanese man, Shiro dispelled his Sacred Gear whilst he shot at the shooters with his Nightingale Bow. All the while, he ran with Jinako and the now christened Lord Oishi as well as Ushiwakamaru.

Just as they made it close to the entrance, a lot of men got behind them, and if things kept going like this then they likely would have a major annoyance on their hands. Therefore, as a man who liked to take action rather than speak, Shiro stopped running, turned around to face the incoming men before he pulled his Nightingale's bowstring. He filled it with energy to form an energy Arrow, before he then released it.

BOOM!

His divine arrow caused massive damage to the shipyard, killing the pursuers as well as slowed the advancing survivors, just like he had intended. Thus, Shiro turned around and broke into a sprint, running to the others as the man had two horses seemingly prepared beforehand. As for Shiro, he whistled again and, unlike before, Blackjack seemed to race through the streets at high speeds like it had known something like this was going to happen inevitably. Not really questioning it, Shiro got onto Blackjack's saddle-covered back, with Jinako mounting it as well resulting in her being behind the boy like before. Thus, with a quick flap of Blackjack's reigns the two were off galloping out of the Shipyard.

* * *

**Later**

After a while of riding, the group arrived at a foggy area where the plants and the ground looked like they were burnt. Oishi and Ushiwakamaru were standing as they held the horses' rails, Shiro was also standing as Jinako stayed sitting on the horse before Oishi turned his head to the two teens, a look of gratitude in his eyes. "I thank you for helping us escape, young man."

In response, Shiro crossed his arms under his chest whilst frowning. "We were caught in between by those men, looked like they were going to shoot me because they can't tell the difference between an ally or enemy." he stated, getting an understanding nod from the man.

The man also stroked his chin whilst humming thoughtfully. "True... young man, where are you and the girl from?" he asked her.

For a moment, Shiro and Jinako glanced at one another, unsure as to whether they should say the truth or not. After all, normal people weren't meant to know about the supernatural world according to the hindu pantheon… as well as any other pantheon, since if they knew then war would surely follow, not ending well for anyone. In the end however, it was reasoned that since the man didn't look too surprised when Shiro used his skills back in the shipyard, that he had an awareness of the supernatural, so Jinako made the following statement in response. "We are in a diplomatic meeting with the shinto gods as lord Vishnu assigned us." she explained, Shiro holding out the Disk which Vishnu had given them as proof of their claims.

Also true to their thoughts, the man once again nodded his head in understanding, confirming that he indeed had awareness of the supernatural. "Ahhhh I see, well you've come in a bad time." he said in a grim tone.

This didn't bode well for the two teens, to which the girl in rags known as Ushiwakamaru questioned him with worry on her dirt-ridden face. "What do you mean lord Oishi?"

"Lady Asano is going to be married in a week."

"WHAT?!"

"Huh? Why are you surprised, isn't a wedding supposed to be good?" Shiro questioned, not knowing what the big deal was. According to Brihanna (and even Jinako when he had idly questioned her about it one time) a wedding was something that a lot of women wanted in a committed relationship, so why was it being treated like something akin to a disease by these two? Did one of them have a thing for this 'Lady Asano' person or something?

For a moment, the japanese natives traded looks with one another as well, until eventually the man looked back at the two teens with a troubled expression on his face. "... I suppose I should tell you. Two weeks ago, my father was bewitched by a witch, then he got framed for attempting to kill Kira, a high ranking official. Afterwards, he was forced to commit seppuku in atonement, and thanks to this Kira used this chance to obtain Asano, my sister as his bride. They were about to kill us if I hadn't put down my honor to save ourselves." he explained, looking down in sadness at the end.

Something which Ushiwakamaru noticed and decided to offer some words of comfort. "You did what you had to, lord Oishi."

After hearing this, Shiro internally wondered if there was more to it than this that they weren't telling them, but put it aside in order to satisfy a more pressing matter. "Then why haven't you done anything to him?" he questioned, since it would be easy to just dispose of an official if he remembered what had happened back during the Crusades correctly. Officials weren't really that well trained in the art of combat, which meant that they made for quite easy kills on the battlefield. Therefore, he didn't get why this man hadn't been killed already, not to mention that this tale wreaked of suspicious activity… activity of the Apostle kind.

Oishi shook his head at the naivety in those words, before proceeding to explain. "It's not that simple young man, we were outnumbered and were forbidden to take revenge by the yokai elders as they didn't want to ruin their image when a diplomat was coming… which now that I think about it, that meant you two."

Well, didn't that sound like a lot of political BS to him, or what? Still though, the fact that the man had this kind of thing going on, combined with the look he saw in his eyes, eased Shiro's internal indignation a bit. He respected vengeance after all. "I see… you intend to still get your revenge?" he questioned, though at this point it felt more like a formality.

Something which the man agreed with as Oishi nodded his head, the embers of fiery vengeance filling his eyes mixed with firm determination as he gripped his fists tightly. "... yes. This injustice is something I must cleanse from this earth. More than that, I cannot rest until I avenge my father and restore my honor, even if it means breaking the elders law." he explained, prompting Shiro to nod his head in understanding as he prepared to leave. He knew that it wasn't his business to interfere with their revenge, since he was an outsider, not to mention that his instincts told him that this wreaked with Apostle influence. Meaning that the enemy would likely be nearby so he would just have to search the area and wait till he got a reaction from his Brand, then investigate from there.

Just as he made to hop onto Blackjack, however...

"... we'll help you Oishi."

The words of his companion forced him to stop moving mid stride, his eyes wide with shock behind his blindfold whilst his jaw had fallen open. He then turned to Jinako who looked at the japanese natives with a firm look not unlike their own, prompting him to use their mental link to question the girl's motives for doing this. 'Jinako!? What are you saying, we can't be involved with them, it's not our business!' he yelled mentally.

Though she didn't glance at him this time, she indeed responded through their link. 'Shiro, think about it. If we help them, then they can help us in finding the Apostles. I get this feeling that this whole incident is either completely or partially an Apostle's influence anyways. I know you feel it too, Shiro.'

...Tch, she had him there. "... Fine we will, I can respect your vengeance." the boy finally responded, signifying both his acceptance of her words and his agreeing to join them on this mission. At least if he agreed not only would he be able to get to the Apostles, but he'd likely get to them faster than if he were to search around on his own, and there was no guarantee that the Brand would be able to lead him to it anyways.

Of course, seeing him relent like this caused the two Japanese natives to blink in owlish manners, disbelief etched onto their features. The one who regained the ability to speak first turned out to be Oishi, who directed his gaze towards the white haired male in particular. "You will? But the Shintos will think of your pantheon as enemies for helping us, your image will be ruined." he exclaimed, concerned and why wouldn't he be? He'd been a person in a position where he had to think about these things, so of course he'd be worried.

However, he didn't anticipate the response Shiro would give, and so readily at that. "I don't care about the reputation or my image, I'm not like those people who would seek fame or glory." he told the man, shaking his head and crossing his arms under his chest. Shiro knew a few in the Band of the Hawk who had been like that, fighting solely for being famous and 'getting all the bitches they wanted' according to them. He never liked that kind of attitude, especially since it had brought his friend Brihanna discomfort… never really understood why he always felt like that around her, even now the thought of her being possibly taken away by Apostles to be devoured nearly sent him on a rage.

Whilst he thought about this, Jinako gave a comforting smile towards the two. "And besides I'm the daughter of Ganesha so they can't get mad at us. If they do then they have to face my grandfather Shiva." she explained… with a rather uncharacteristic yet cheeky grin as she stuck out her tongue whilst bonking herself on the head.

A gesture which weirded the man out whilst it made a small smile form on Ushiwakamaru's face, but nonetheless Oishi lowered his head in gratitude with a matching smile on his lips. "I see… thank you for this, I swear on my honor to repay you." he told them, meaning every word.

"Save it for when this is over, old man." Shiro stated, perhaps a bit harsher than he had intended though. Plus, he had heard from his ancestor how hung up on honor that the residents of Japan had once been in the past, with some villages still keeping those traditions active similar to how his Village had done with the medieval period. "Besides, if we're right, then this whole scheme is even worse than you know."

"... you are indeed correct, young man. Let's discuss our plans, Kai is protected by thousands of his men, also protected by witchcraft... I apologize for my previous blunder of not heeding your warning, Ushiwakamaru."

"It's not your fault lord Oishi, you just didn't realize it when I didn't have any proof to show you."

"I know, but we need to gather our men first."

"Alright, follow me."

With that, Oishi, Ushiwakamaru and Shiro got onto their horses as he followed Oishi to where his men were.

* * *

**Later**

They were in the forest again as they galloped through the area.

Once they were at the river, the group of riders saw a fat man washing himself before he looked up and saw the four of them approaching. He quickly recognized one of them as he turned to the other men who were camping. "OIII YASUNO ITS OISHI! HE'S BACK!" he bellowed, and following this the men gathered to see their lord that was just across the river.

The four Riders then went around the lake before they were at the mens camp, all of them gathering around Oishi as he got off his horse before he was approached by a young man who gave him a short katana. "Father."

"Well done Chikara." Oishi declared with a nod and a small smile. They all bowed down to him before they all sat down in front of them as Ushiwakamaru was not far from them. Though she wasn't part of the men's gathering, it didn't mean she didn't have any company since she had been joined with Jinako and Shiro as they listened to him. "Today we may be ronin, but now the time has come. What I propose… ends in death. Even if we succeed, we will be hanged as criminals for defying the elders' orders." He brought his shortsword in front of him as he spoke.

"I take a vow before you, that I will not rest until justice is done, will not sleep until our master, my father, lies in peace. I will not pray unless it is to ask for heaven's forgiveness for sending Kira to hell!"

All the men cheered for their lord's declaration, pretty much confirming that they would follow him, even into the jaws of death.

'Huh… this reminds me so much of the Band of the Hawk… back during… better times...'

'...Shiro…'

Soon as they calmed down an old man brought out an old looking map. "There are two ways in. the main gate here and this point beneath the west hall. Both are heavily guarded. We are low in numbers, but we are skilled in combat, so if we can hold out long enough so we can kill Kira." he told them.

"You know he used to travel to his ancestors' shrine to offer prayers, but now he stopped going there."

Oishi blinked at this when one of the Ronin told him this. "What do you mean?" he questioned.

A question that got answered by the same man as he looked into the centre of the gathering which was occupied by a small bonfire. "You see, a long time ago Kira was traveling with his father to prayer at his ancestors' shrine, but they were taking a long time so people got worried that something bad had happened to them. That is, until Kira was the only one who arrived back before scouts could be sent out to find him. Back then, he had said that they were attacked by some roque yokais. There was some rumors that a farmer had seen the whole thing, that Kira used some kind of ritual to kill his father."

This caught Shiro's attention as he went to the group before he asked them. "A ritual?"

The same man who had spoken before nodded, his features of grimness as he shuddered, slowly becoming like someone who had just woke up from a nightmare. "Yeah... even when I was still a samurai there, a fellow samurai told me that when he passed his room, he saw a silhouette of Kira transforming into something… something which he didn't dare go into further details of for some reason. Then the next day, that same guy disappeared without anyone knowing where he had gone."

A disturbing tension filled the camp as the men and Ushiwakamaru reeled at this news, whilst Shiro and Jinako glanced at one another quickly sharing their thoughts through their mental link. Just from those details alone, this 'Kira' person sounded like he warranted their investigation, since that sounded WAY too suspicious for them to ignore it. If their assumptions were true ...Then Kira might have become an Apostle. Though they couldn't tell the Ronin that since one, they would likely not believe them, and two they wouldn't really change their minds about their goals considering their stubborn determination and what they had seen of the Ronin so far.

"Then, we need to act fast if we want to get revenge on that bastard. Fortunately, his shrine is on our way. We'll see if we can find anything there if your assumption is true." Oishi declared, getting hums of agreement from the other Ronin. If they wanted to get revenge on Kira for sullying their master and their honor, then they would need the adequate equipment for them to do so.

"I understand lord Oishi, but even if we know the route, we will need more men to storm the castle."

When one of them brought up that point, Oishi addressed it as well. "Then we'll get them, you and Chuzarmon and Okuda will gather as many of our former samurai as you can and meet us here at a farmhouse Horibe has found for us." he told them, listing the names of those who he wanted to get the job done.

Then, another complaint was raised by another Ronin. "Forgive me sir, but how can we succeed without good swords?"

Oishi then put his sword to him. "Take mine. When we meet again, I'll have more waiting for you. The rest will go to Uetsu, the finest sword makers in this land work there."

"Why is the half-breed here?"

"She is my loyal retainer."

"We can't take her with us. She's not a samurai." A ronin stated, narrowing his eyes in thinly-veiled disgust towards Ushiwakamaru. Just as he went to her position and made to hit her, something which the girl seemed to have suspected judging by her lack of reaction to it, her eyes along with everyone else's (save for Jinako whose eyes narrowed) widened when Shiro stepped in. He got in front of Ushiwakamaru and pointed his Kurogane at his throat, stopping the man's advance though this still didn't stop the look of hatred he sent to the half-breed girl's way.

Oishi then put his hand at Shiro's spear as he spoke. "None of us are samurai anymore, leave it be. Young man, if you would please."

For a moment, his Kurogane remained on the man's throat, with just one flick he could have just beheaded the man for his idiocy right then and there, however a look from Jinako stopped him. Shiro then reluctantly pulled his Spear back from the man's throat, putting it on his back as he glared at him before going to another spot.

Oishi then made an announcement. "We will leave tomorrow, so rest up men. We will need it for the trials ahead." he declared, with the other Ronin nodding their heads in acknowledgement.

Then the men separated as Shiro leaned on a tree, closing his eyes and shutting himself down for the night like an organic machine. Although that did not mean that his instincts weren't on high alert, thanks to his many battles the ability to wake up instantly from slumber at the slightest hint of killing intent remained steadfast within him.

Back with Ushiwakamaru, the girl had her head down as she sat to rest herself, that is before Jinako went on over to her. "Hey Ushi… you alright?" she questioned, getting a curious look from the girl who raised her head so she could look up at the other girl.

"Ushi?"

Jinako nodded, a small smile on her lips as she sat beside her. "Yeah, its a nickname. You never had one before?" she questioned, getting a shake of the head from her in return. The half-indian girl frowned briefly at that, sensing deep sadness within the girl even though she looked like she had gotten used to it, though she instead chose to focus on something else for the time being. "Well, I'll call you Ushi for now,and you can think of what to call me. I'm Jinako by the way, it's nice to meet you."

On Ushiwakamaru's end, she looked at Jinako like she were some alien object which she'd never seen before, hinting to the demigoddess that she had never really had a conversation or anything close to a proper friend before. Something which she wanted to change in the future, so why didn't she start now? "...It's nice… to meet you, too. Also, your companion stood up for me… so thanks goes to him, as well."

"No problem." Jinako replied, glancing over towards the seemingly asleep Shiro although as she briefly opened he rmental link to him she could tell that he had a lot on his mind which wasn't unordinary or anything. So she closed it and looked back at the fellow girl. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask you... Why do they call you a half-breed? If you don't mind me asking, that is..."

For a moment, Ushiwakamaru frowned as she looked down at the ground, and in that moment Jinako felt like she had gone a bit too far since they hardly knew one another. However, that moment vanished when she spoke. "... because I am not a full blown japanese blood… I'm half chinese." she explained.

Jinako's eyes widened at that, though to Ushiwakamaru's surprise she didn't have anything else to indicate her reaction, no hate or disgust in her. Were there people like her out there in the world, too? "Oh…. but how is that a problem?" Jinako questioned, tilting her head in confusion.

Once again, the half-chinese girl looked back down at the ground, her eyes becoming unfocused as memories flowed back into her mind, making her lips move almost like they had their own will. "You see, I was scorned ever since I was a little girl, because my mother had an affair with my father which resulted in my birth. That affair brought great shame to my family, to which they responded to the situation by abandoning me inside a forest, leaving me to die a lonely death there. I had been alone, hungry and confused… Back then, I would have died via starvation until lord Oishi and his group of Samurai found me, bringing me back to their home afterwards. Not long had passed before they had adopted me as a foundling. After the first few years of my life, which I can barely recall now, things had improved and I was cherished by my adoptive family. Despite that however, my birth family recognized me as soon as one of them had seen me. As a result, they had told everyone that I was a result of a shameful marriage. They hated me, scorned me." She explained, pulling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "Perhaps... I shouldn't even exist."

Now THAT horrified the daughter of Ganesha, as she quickly put her hands on her fellow girl's shoulders. "Don't say that!" she shouted, much to Ushiwakamaru's shock. Yet, Jinako kept going. "You have someone who cares about you, like Oishi." she exclaimed.

However, it didn't seem to raise the girl's mood much as she looked down at the ground again. "Even he can't protect me forever, Jinako…. I doubt there are any other people who care about me, a half breed born from such a sinful union." she remarked bitterly, her eyes shining with repressed emotions that seemed to have been that way for a very long time, yet only now with someone talking to her she was able to let them out. Perhaps it was stupid of her to open up to a literal stranger too, but considering the circumstances, and that she had heard that opening up to people one didn't know can sometimes be easier than opening up to close friends… perhaps she just had to take the chance lest her emotions overwhelm her and made her do something she'd regret.

"... you know, I used to think about the same thing Ushi."

"Huh?"

After a moment of silence, Jinako took her hands off the other girl's shoulders whilst resuming her previous position, though her words had indeed caught Ushiwakamaru's attention judging by the confused look she sent her way. This prompted her to elaborate on them. "When I was young, my mother died because of a monster who attacked us, which forced her to commit suicide. For years, the other side of my family abused and scorned me, saying that I was the cause of my mother's death. I alway wished that there was someone who would take me away from them, even finding myself to the point where I got in a deep sleep that I almost wouldn't awaken from." She explained, her eyes melancholic as she remembered those times. Even now, she could feel the fresh fury and resentment she had for her so-called 'relatives' that her mother had. There was practically NOTHING that they could do to earn her forgiveness, they would never have it nor would they ever want it if what she remembered from them was accurate.

When she heard this, Ushiwakamaru furrowed her brows as a sense of confusion mixed with a growing surge of kinship started to swell up inside her. "You… were scorned by your family too, then… that makes us similar…" she remarked, Jinako nodding in agreement as the two girls looked towards the bonfire, sharing a moment of silent sombreness. That moment then got shattered when the half-chinese girl looked towards her again. "But then, you spoke in past tense, so what changed?"

"Oh that?" Jinako started, a soft smile on her lips as she tilted her head in the direction of the outwardly slumbering Shiro, prompting Ushiwakamaru to look at him after a few seconds of trying to figure out what she meant.

"Him?"

Jinako nodded her head at her fellow girl. Perhaps she could get used to having a fellow girl as a friend, since she'd been surrounded by guys ever since she'd woken up from her coma. It wasn't like she wanted any more guys in her life though, considering what her family had done to her purity. "Uh huh, him. Shiro came to me and, through some complicated circumstances, informed me that my father sent him to get me out of my dreams. Back then, the monster had locked me in a pyramid within my own mind, trapping me with memories of my trauma. He tried so hard to get me out of there, to the point where he would risk his life just to save me, someone who he barely knew. Thanks to this, we not only managed to help me wake up, but I finally met my father and grandfather, who true to my hopes gave me the love of a family that I had wanted for so long. It was all because of Shiro that I was reunited by my father."

After hearing her story, Ushiwakamaru reeled at this information, taking in the revelations about how these two knew one another. "I see…" she mumbled under her breath as she glanced over at Shiro for a moment, before looking back down. She wouldn't admit it, but part of her envied Jinako a little for having someone help pull her out of that hellish experience, and though their circumstances were still different she could still see some common traits between them. Her guardian Oishi did his best to treat her like his ideal daughter, whereas Jinako's father did the same when they were reunited.

"Ushi, I'll say to you what my grandfather said to me: no matter what there is always other people who would care about you."

"... thank you for that Jinako….. By the way, this Shiro character… is he… you know, a kind person?"

Upon hearing her ask her that, Jinako chuckled a little whilst sweat dropping awkwardly, since 'nice' was the last thing she could say about him. Even if the situation sounded like it, Shiro was hardly the knight in shining armour her scenario depicted him as, he wouldn't hesitate to rip apart those who he didn't like. Plus, his brutality had been shown just now when he had almost decapitated that Ronin just now, so she could hardly call him kind, not like the so-called 'princes' in the fairy tails that her mother used to read to her when she had been a toddler. "Well….. He's mostly a stubborn guy and almost a loner type. You piss him off, and you may find yourself either spending your life as never completely whole ever again…. Or he would just kill you right then and there." She explained, remembering the way she had interacted with him back during the whole mindscape thing. However, despite this a softness could be seen in her eyes as she looked back at Ushiwakamaru. "But, once you get past that and actually get to know him…. He can be the softest person you've ever met."

"... I understand."

"Alright let's get some sleep, tomorrow we will have leave right?"

"Indeed, good night Jinako."

"Good night Ushi."

* * *

**Timeskip**

A group of people rode across the land, that group consisting of Shiro, Ushi, Jinako and Oishi. Their goal being to gather the weapons that they would need to equip the various Ronin with so they could finally get their revenge on the one who wrongfully murdered their master and got away with it.

As they traveled the land they saw a village just over there as they reached it. They put their horse away at the front entrance as the village was quiet, too quiet that it was almost abandoned. They looked around to see if anyone was there, so far they haven't found anyone before they come across a black armored samurai as they all turned to the group of ronins. "Who are you?"

Oishi responded whilst concealing the killing intent he felt inside. "We are a group of travelers, I am in a diplomatic meeting for the shinto faction. These men are farmers who are helping us travel. They have come to buy tools on their way."

"This is lord Kira's village now." The samurai went to Chikara as he took his hand as he inspected it. "These are not farmers' hands."

It was then Ushi made a move as she pulled out her sword as she slashed the samurai before others went to her.

Following this, Shiro leapt forwards from Blackjack, then slashed all of them in one strike with his Kurogane, however one of them had managed to avoid a fatal strike at the last second unlike his buddies, thus that guy tried to get away by scrambling across the ground like an animal.

Not willing to let that happen, Ushi grabbed the enemies bow and arrows before she took aim and shot perfectly at the soldier.

After that soldier fell to the ground, dead with an arrow going through the back of his head, the group looked at them before Shiro then went to the corpse. Kneeling beside it, he grabbed the katana it had, before he unleashed Rashomon in it's Threads form which took the other corpses' Katanas. Afterwards, he turned back to the others and held the spoils out before them impatiently. "Well, what are you waiting for? Grab these swords if you want them."

"... take them." Oishi ordered, prompting the others to take the swords Shiro had looted from the corpses.

Whilst doing so, Chikara then faced his father. "Father, these swords won't be enough for the rest of our soldiers. How can we get more swords?" he questioned, frowning. They'd only gained a few weapons for themselves thanks to these 'donations', but it wouldn't be enough for all 47 Ronin to do their task.

Something which the man also seemed to be aware of as he scratched his chin in thought, his eyes sporting an intense gaze as he locked himself in thought. "... we will look for more swords, Chikara. Right now, we have to go to the farmlands where we can find other places to get swords. On the way, there is the shrine where Kira used to pray, we will stop by and see if we can find any clues on if Kira has indeed become something abominable."

"As you wish, father."

"Everyone once you've gotten a grasp of your swords' feelings, we will travel through the shrine to see if the rumors are true."

"YES, MY LORD!"

* * *

**AN: Hunter here! Welcome to a new chapter for Frenzy: DxD. In this chapter, we have quite a bit of stuff going down, but for those of you who don't know, this is an arc inspired by a film based on a true story: the 47 Ronin. Since a lot of the DxD Arcs were centered around specific characters whilst still pertaining to the overall story (the raiser arc for Rias and the holy sword arc for Kiba) we intend to do the same for the new girl. Who you might have guessed, is Ushiwakamaru from Fate, though its apparent that she's not exactly the same as she usually is thanks to her current stature. Don't worry though, we have our own intentions for her in the near future, some good stuff if you ask me too. She's slowly bonding with Jinako since their situations have been shown as similar, not to mention there's an overall theme with the characters involved here: betrayal. Betrayal from those whom one was expected to be able to trust. Shiro got betrayed by Griffith, Jinako by her mother's relatives, and Ushiwakamaru from her entire birth family. I wonder if this could lead to them forming a group with that kind of motiv, and what kind of group name they'd go with… but anyways, hope you like the chap, let us know what you think and look forward to the next. **

**PEACE OUT!**

**Oh man finally we are reaching the dynasty!... My name is Darklord bringing you another chapter of the story! Like what Hunter said we are doing a separate arc for each character that will join Shiro in his journey against the God Hand. The reason why we put in the old century world was because I know lots of people won't accept the modern world like the Amish people so why not do the same? For Ushiwakamaru, she will not be like her ancestor because of her name and appearance but she will be someone else's, you'll have to wait until the next chapter. Alright thank you for reading our story, be sure to leave a review if you want and I'll see you next time!**

**GOOD LUCK!**


	9. Chapter 9

After they'd appropriated their weapons from some unlucky Samurai, The group now approached the area where the shrine had been said to be located. They travelled on horseback for quickness, and as such had arrived at the Shrine's location in almost record time… though, when they arrived it soon became apparent to them that there wasn't much to find regarding Kira's true nature, only a bunch of straw bundles standing up like an indian camp home.

Not wanting to go in as one big mass though, Oishi quickly ordered them to scatter around the place to see what they could find pertaining to this suspicious mystery surrounding Kira. Just from what they'd heard alone, his nature seemed way too suspicious, and the two foreigners hoped to GODS that this wasn't as bad as they had feared it was going to be.

Whilst they trotted around the place, the group looked left and right as Shiro, Jinako, and Ushi kept on looking around for any clues. However, with the lack of progress came the growing frustration and, as such, frustration wasn't something Shiro had found himself able to handle very much. Eventually, it boiled over as he scratched the side of his head with his teeth gnashed. "Ugh, this is pointless. How can we find something if we can't even see it?" he questioned, hearing Rashomon growling in agreement within the back of his head.

Turning her head to him, Jinako smiled weakly at him in an attempt to calm him down. "You've got to be patient Shiro, it's what all people have." she told him. She had known from experience that the guy was a simple man, and thus he didn't do too well when things got overly complicated. He just didn't know why things had to be that way all the time, which was why when things become that way, it would irk him. This didn't mean he was an idiot though, proven by how he passed through the puzzles of her Mind back then, but he preferred the simple things.

Proof of this came when his eyes showed her that her words didn't have the desired effect, if anything it combined with their lack of progress made Shiro's agitation worse. "And it's taking too damn long, how are we even sure the rumors are true?" he questioned, scowling.

This time, Oishi glanced back at him as he proceeded to reply. Although he couldn't really scold the white haired male for his words since those feelings had been welling up inside himself for a while now. It was only through the white haired foreigner that he had been able to vent some of them. "Some are, some aren't Shiro, we can't be certain unless we find it."

"I have half of mind to burn this down-whoa!"

When the boy made to reply, a startled sound escaped his lips which got mixed with a similarly sounding neigh from his mount, the two of them nearly falling over had they not gotten their balance back at the last second. Something which quickly drew the others attention as they regrouped with him. "What is it Shiro?" Jinako questioned worriedly.

"Nothing just some damn rock Blackjack almost tripped on-?!" Shiro began to reply, when he noticed something. When Blackjack kicked a rock away with one of its hooves, Shiro found himself surprised when he had seen it to be quite... long.

"What did you find?"

Whilst he heard Oishi's question, Shiro didn't answer as he dropped from Blackjack's saddle, then proceeded to dig through the dirt with his hands. Pretty soon, he had dug enough to unveil the rock's true identity, and true to his thoughts, it wasn't a rock at all, but a bone. A HUMAN bone at that.

Seeing this, the girls and Oishi grew just as surprised as the boy, before they jumped off their respective mounts joining him on digging. After a while, the group wound up finding various parts of the skeleton, including the body, legs, arms, torso, and head.

Picking the head up within her two hands, Ushi brought the skeleton head close to her before she said. "Huh, this is a peculiar skull..." she muttered.

Her words brought a confused frown out of Oishi as he tilted his head in confusion, a matching frown on his lips. "What do you mean Ushi?" he questioned.

She turned the skull around to show them as they had their breath hitched when they saw it. It was the brand, the brand of sacrifice that Shiro has on his neck. None of the Japanese natives had known it's significance, but Shiro and Jinako did, they did OH so well with the latter whispering their thoughts out loud. "So it's true he really did turn into… an Apos-"

"AAAHHHH A GIANT CENTEPIEDE YOKAIS!"

However, none of them were prepared for such a loud shout to come their way from one of the Ronin, prompting them all to collectively gasp as they turned a full 180 degrees behind them. There, each of them saw something which would haunt them for the rest of their lives… if they even survived this night, that is. There, looming over them like a living breathing phantom, looked to only be a Centipede-like creature, it's size being pretty GARGANTUAN in scale. Looked like it could wrap around tall buildings with ease, but not only that but it also had a humanoid face shaped like that of a woman in the centre of it's head. The entire thing had a black carapace over it's long body, whilst the centipede head which had been below the humanoid face, had four glowing eyes, long antennae and a large mouth filled to the brim with razor sharp teeth.

Needless to say, the Ronin that had seen it had understandably flipped his lid, alerting the rest of them.

'Yeah…!' Shiro thought as he ignored the burning pain which got spawned by his now bleeding Brand, favoring gripping his Kurogane in a ready position whilst he had quickly made Blackjack flee from the scene so it didn't get caught in the crossfire. Inside his mind, Rashomon growled in anger and bloodlust as he made the following mental declaration. 'This definitely looks like a freaking Apostle…!'

No sooner had he thought this, the beast lunged forth at them, screeching a screech which would have shredded through everyone's eardrums had they not covered their ears. Although this soon proved itself to be a bad idea still, since this distracted them from running which resulted in multiple Ronin (including their horses) being bitten through and dragged underground with the beast. Nobody needed to know what had happened to them with the bloodstains and the shredded body parts that the beast left in its wake being a perfect indication.

One of the surviving horse-mounted Ronin cursed up a storm as he, along with the rest, tried to rein in their rides (save for Shiro whose Blackjack remained as calm as ever). "S-Shit! It got some of us!" he bellowed

"All of you, escape from here! We still need to avenge our master!"

"YES, MY LORD!"

Upon Oishi declaring this, each of the surviving Ronin quickly began fleeing in the opposite direction that the beast had come from, all the while it howled and screeched as it constantly resurfaced and surfaced all over the place like it were knitting the ground together. Its many legs scraped through both air and dirt, each one looking more like long blades instead of insectoid limbs as it cut and tore at everything that came before it using them alongside it's Mandibles.

At this point, the whole place had become one big war zone, with the whole place becoming covered in fog which limited the various Ronin's vision as they desperately tried to flee from the 'Yokai' as they only knew it as, which could only be considered understandable since they A, didn't have the same knowledge as Shiro and Jinako, as well as B, they had knowledge of the ōmukade, a giant centipede from their native land's mythology. In that myth, this beast had been said to have been large enough to wrap itself around entire mountains, its body impenetrable to most attacks. Hence, why even those who had swords didn't believe they could take on such a beast.

Still, after it surfaced once more, catching a Ronin with one of his antennae that it used like a Tendril, the giant Centipede held the Ronin before it's humanoid female face, which gave a sick smile of sadistic pleasure as it swung it's Mandibles, slicing the Ronin in half before using it's spare antennae to grab onto the lower half. It then proceeded to shove both halves into it's centipede mouth, chowing down with gleeful delight on it's humanoid face which also moaned in almost sexual pleasure.

Afterwards, it looked down at the retreating Ronin and noticed the ones in the front being Jinako, Oishi and Ushi. A sickening giggle escaped the female face as the whole thing lunged down towards them, intending to take a bite out of the trio at the same time so that the rest would become disorganized and chaotic, making them easy pickings for the creature. However, whilst it got halfway across the necessary distance between it and them…

"Got you, bitch!"

"**?!"**

A loud gasp escaped the female face belonging to the monster, as Shiro suddenly fell down from above with the Threads of Rashomon retreating into his back, a sign as to how he had gotten up there in the first place. With a roar, he had slammed into the monster with the intent to stab into it's female face with his Kurogane, though the beast managed to shift it's head to where the Spear only BARELY pierced through its shell at the last second.

'Shit! This fucker's got good reflexes…!'

The boy thought this and, through summoning Rashomon from his left hand in it's claw form, shot it to the ground beside the retreating Ronin to push it away from them, resulting in it crashing into the ground instead of it's intended target.

Glancing behind her, Jinako noticed this and quickly yelled out for her comrade. "Shiro!"

She would have turned around to go assist him, however his words that he yelled out seconds later halted those intentions in their tracks. "Go! I'll handle this bitch!" After he yelled this, Shiro flipped off the monster's form whilst avoiding the lunge attempts of it's multiple antennae, slashing at it's Mandibles whilst he fell with Kurogane before landing on the ground, sliding to a halt. Rashomon also retracted into him once more, though it resurfaced in it's multiple Threads form in readiness to aid it's master.

"...Alright! You just survive this, you hear me?!"

"...Heh…" Shiro just HAD to smirk under his hat at those words as Jinako shouted at him as she continued helping the Ronin get to safety. His eyes glimmered with bloodlust which gradually took hold, replacing his earlier shock as he gripped Kurogane intently, his lips curving into a grin matching that of a shark whilst Rashomon growled in bloodlust once again. "Who does she think she's talking to? Surviving is pretty much a special skill of mine by now...:"

* * *

Back with the retreating Ronin, Jinako and Ushi rode on opposite sides of Oishi, the former having ridden atop one of the horses that had lost it's rider in the initial attack since Blackjack had been said to only listen to Shiro, his one true master. It had been a rather… enlightening experience, riding a horse like this, but one which she welcomed nonetheless since she could use the experience for future happenings.

Whilst they rode for their lives and those of their fellow warriors, Ushi looked on over towards Jinako with slightly narrowed eyes. "Jinako!" she yelled out.

"What?!" Jinako yelled back as the group got their cohesion back under control, though with that ambush they only had under 5 armed men left.

After a couple seconds, Ushi yelled out the following question. "You know what that thing was, don't you?!" Though, it sounded more like a statement than anything else.

"Is this REALLY the time for interrogations?!"

"You and Shiro, I noticed that you two were the most composed when we were talking about the rumours earlier! Then with how Shiro handled that beast before! You two know something, don't you?!"

Oishi, having suspected something like this from the moment he had heard Shiro's words when he'd offered his gratitude, resorted to solving this debate between the girls with his own interjection. "We can talk later! Focus on escaping right now!"

"YES, MY LORD-UGH, SCATTER!"

Just as Ushi declared that. She sensed some killing intent and the source rapidly closing in on their position, prompting her to quickly alert the rest of the Ronin. This command came just in time, for just after the group split into two lines with Jinako and Oishi leading one whilst Ushi led the other, a SECOND creature came down from above and smashed into the spot they would have ridden in otherwise.

"?!"

"ANOTHER ONE?!"

"A SECOND BEAST! LOOKS LIKE THE FIRST ONE!"

Oishi declared this after the group reformed, then looked at the full appearance of the monster that was attacking them. Like the last one, it looked like an extremely large Centipede, it's width being 4 meters wide whilst looking completely armored, with it's upper armor being dark blue and the lower armor being light blue. It also possessed a humanoid face, this one being more masculine, as well as seemed to be contained inside the mouth of another head.

Looking at it herself, Jinako used her senses and identified the Demonic Power which ran through the beast, which made her curse under her breath. 'Great! ANOTHER Apostle! Why didn't Vishnu tell us about this?! Did he not know there was a second one, or was this one made with a Beherit more recently?!' the girl wondered, instead of freaking out and wasting precious energy. Plus, without Shiro's help, it would seem like it fell upon her to help the others get out of this alive, heck she could still hear the sounds of Shiro battling the other Centipede in the distance. "Crap! Looks like we aren't getting away without a repelling operation!" She called out to the other Ronin. "You guys, follow my lead and we'll be able to escape this!"

"Are you sure?!" one of the Ronin yelled back as the beast chasing them once again tried lunging at them, only for Jinako to pull out one of her Axes and throw it like a boomerang towards one of its eyes. It successfully cut through one of them, leaving the beast to howl as it crashed to the side of its intended target, the Axe returning to it's master's hand.

"Does that answer your question?!"

The Ronin nodded his head, mentally sighing in relief even as the beast got back up, a wound over it's eye that would likely scar, before it screeched and chased on after the two.

* * *

'Hmmm, looks like this fucker will be more problematic than I thought…'

Back with Shiro, he dodged a Tail stab from the absurdly long Centipede before him by flipping backwards, then jumped up onto the creature's body. He then ran along it whilst switching out his Kurogane for his Nightingale, repeatedly shooting at the creature's face whilst peppering the legs with his Rashomon Threads without mercy, The sweet smell of sliced legs filled his nostrils thanks to all the damage that he had been doing, prompting him to smirk in some form of self-satisfaction whilst he ran.

'Not only is this Carapace super hard to damage unless I apply my Rashomon into play, but it also appears that it has high speed regeneration, too. I COULD use the Brahamastra to blow this thing to kingdom come, but that must only be used as a last resort due to the damage it'll pose… plus, i'm not sure if the others will have escaped the blast radius in time either…' Shiro thought whilst he ran, flipping, twisting and spinning along the long body when it twisted itself around like a spiralling sausage to try and knock him off. Not only that, but his use of Rashomon allowed him to slice through the legs he approached so that they wouldn't be able to cut into him.

Though, thanks to the beast's body being so absurdly long, Shiro felt like he was hardly getting anywhere even as he jumped across various body parts to the beast's face.

Something which the beast had anticipated as it moved itself out of Shiro's movement path instead of lunging forwards, much to his surprise before Shiro grunted when he felt it slam into his side with enough force to rival a car crashing into someone, resulting in him being sent crashing into the ground below…

Though, not before the beast's eyes widened when it felt various gashes form across it's centipede head.

'Guess I'll… have to rely on Rashomon… for the time being…' the boy thought as he got back up to his feet, gripping his Nightingale tightly whilst he looked up, Rashomon retreating into his Coat before coming back out as its large beast head form. It growled and hissed angrily at the enemy, it's lightning bolt-shaped eyes glowing with sinister intent before it opened it's maw to show off its many sharp fangs, prompting the massive Centipede to hiss back.

To respond to this, Shiro felt Rashomon's urging desire to rip into this enemy so he let it, snarling as the beast lunged towards him with the intent of finishing him off at long last. An intent mirrored by him as Rashomon lunged forwards too, a fierce roar escaping it's maw as it opened said maw wide for a chomp. However, just as the two made to strike one another the Centipede quickly shifted it's position like some form of strafing move, allowing it to wrap around Rashomon's Tendril like form whilst using it's many legs (ones which Shiro hadn't destroyed yet, which was still many), before lunging down with the centipede head intending to bite off that of Rashomon.

'Not today!'

However, it forgot about Shiro, who applied his Mana Burst to his Arrow and pumped it chock full of energy, way more than usual which both intensified and enlarged the flaming arrow. As such, when he launched it, the Arrow flew more like a beam up towards its target, the ground around Shiro cracking as it formed a crater from the force of the release alone. Unfortunately, the large Centipede managed to avoid a direct hit to it's face… though on the plus side, the attack still got one of it's Mandibles by severing it from the Centipede head it had.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

A loud screech, one filled with raw fury mixed with searing pain, escaped it's maw as it glared down at Shiro, the one responsible for severing its Mandible from it to which the boy simply smirked in a rather insane manner, making him look less like a human and more like something warped by its own insanity whilst being trapped in an insane asylum. "Yeah, you're mad, aren't you, you piece of shit filth?" Shiro muttered, his smirk widening into a full blown grin (think the Guts smile from Berserk) whilst he pointed up towards it with his free hand. "Like that? A simple human, a mere MORTAL, managed to wound your oh so mighty self, ya damn Apostle! Looks like humans CAN indeed hurt you if they have the desire to, so how'd ya like that!"

Seeing it's chance, Rashomon growled as it lunged forwards and bit down into the Centipede's carapace, it's strong and powerful jaws quickly devouring the material in its grasp which forced the Centipede to screech in pain and anguish as it quickly released the Sacred Gear in an attempt to get away from it's reach. Although it refused to let that happen as Rashimon quickly gave chase with the intent to rip through that hole in it's side entirely.

SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP!

The sounds of its jaws snapping in an attempt to bite into the Centipede again filled the air as Rashomon hunted down the massive beast's body, mainly going for the space where it had bitten previously… before Shiro mentally sent an order to it which made the black best glance down towards the other parts of the Centipede's body. As such, what could only be described as a grin fitting only for someone who had dove down into the depths of psychotic madness crept across its face (Shiro honestly didn't realize it COULD grin like that, if at all… even he felt a bit anxious looking at his own weapon's grin), before it lunged down and bit into another portion of the Centipede's body, legs and all.

As it felt this, the Centipede howled once again, lunging down towards Rashomon with the intent of biting into it whilst it tried to break free of it's hold, only barely managing to when the black creature willingly let go so it could jam itself into the side of it's centipede head. A loud growl escaped it's lips as, with a strong jerk, Rashomon ripped off a portion of the Centipede's face, causing it to howl out…

Until another arrow, similar to the last one, pierced through the entire head section, blowing apart pretty much everything underneath the creature's humanoid face.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Honestly, Shiro couldn't help but chuckle in amusement every time he and Rashomon tore away at this thing, since this feeling represented the first time he ever TRULY got the chance to fight an Apostle… and potentially WIN the confrontation. All his other times fighting had been against the spirits drawn by his Brand, not to mention that he hadn't fought the TRUE Apostle which had been responsible for Jinako's mother's death yet, that one would be reserved for her daughter so she could get some closure. Thus, seeing that he could finally, FINALLY become these things worst nightmare like they had been to him during the Eclipse… yeah, he felt REALLY good right about now.

With the way things were going, Shiro felt that if he got at least one more shot in, he would have been able to defeat his first Apostle since the Eclipse…

But then, after ripping away and thwacking his Rashomon, the Centipede howled as it dove to the ground, burrowing itself inside.

'WHAT?! OH, FUCK THAT!'

Shiro internally raged when he saw this since he knew that the beast was trying to get away. Quickly, he began peppering it's form with energy arrows supplied with ample power from his Mana Burst skill, adding on Rashomon's various attempts to grab onto it to stop it from leaving only for the beast to spiral itself out of the way each time. As a result, The beast completely burrowed into the ground and escaped the area, leaving behind only a single hole where it had escaped into.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

'... FUCK! SHIT, DAMMIT MY PREY GOT AWAY FROM ME!' Shiro raged internally as he retracted an equally furious Rashomon into him. His Sacred Gear felt just as unsatisfied as he did, he could feel it furiously grumbling within the back of his mind as Shiro gritted his teeth, putting his Bow back into his coat as he walked on over to the hole. Kneeling before it, the boy looked down to see how deep it went… and he couldn't even see the bottom. 'Looks like I won't be able to go after it from here, either. Not with Rashomon nor with the amount of power I have left… SHIT!' Out of fury, Shiro punched the ground beside him hard enough to dent it and make a small crater.

A few seconds later, he raised his hand whilst standing upright, forcing himself to calm down by doing some breathing exercises. A few moments later, he found himself back into a semi-reasonable state of mind, allowing him to think rationally. 'Alright, as much as I want to go after this fucker… it would be best to regroup with Jinako and the Ronin. Perhaps we may have to inform them exactly what we're dealing with, too just so we're all on the same page.' he thought, internally regretting not informing everyone sooner. If they had, perhaps this could have been avoided, this trap…

Yeah, he had figured this to be a trap laid out by Kira as soon as the battle had started, since it only made sense that way. Kira would have been the one who had benefited the most, and if the rumours were true then he had likely been one of the Apostles which had attacked them. This was something which Shiro believed, but it wasn't like he had any concrete proof, though that would change once he and Kira finally met for the first time since Rashomon would eventually start raging in his mind in bloodlust and desire for a rematch.

To that end, Shiro once again summoned his Blackjack to his side. Once the horse had came trotting over to him like nothing had happened, a temperment which many divine horses seemed to have shared according to Karna, Shiro quickly flipped himself onto Blackjack's saddle. With that done, the silver haired male lightly kicked his horse whilst snapping the reins, thus he began riding off towards the direction Jinako and the others had run off to. Since he had been able to get the Centipede away from them, Shiro had anticipated that the others would be recovering their strength in preparation for their next move...

* * *

...Turned out, he was wrong.

A while later, Shiro arrived to where his companions had been located thanks to his sensing of Jinako's energy… though, what he did NOT expect to see was how the area now looked more like a cataclysmic disaster.

Across the ground, lay a few dead Ronins whose bodies looked like they had been savagely ripped apart whilst they had still been alive. Not a nice way to go, but it would seem that Ushi and Oishi were wounded but can still fight, the same being said for Jinako too. Looked like they had been through hell regardless of his intentions, then. Thinking this, Shiro dismounted from Blackjack before proceeding to jog on over to them, his footsteps alerting them to his presence as they turned to him. As he approached, Shiro looked towards and spoke to Jinako. "So it also escaped too?"

Jinako nodded her head, a frown marrying her features. Whilst she looked to be much more damaged than the others due to having taken the brunt of a lot of its attacks, Shiro admitted that she looked like she'd handled herself well. "Yes it did, Shiro. Looks like there was more than one here though, since not long after you got the first one, another one came to take its place. That second Apostle was tough though, we almost managed to get the upper hand but it escaped."

Now THAT got his attention. A second Apostle? And considering the shapes of her wounds Shiro believed it to be a similarly shaped one to the one he'd fought before, but with a few differences which indicated that it had been slightly shorter than the one he'd been battling. Still, this made him grit his teeth whilst rubbing the back of his head in annoyance. "Damn it, that sucks… looks like the intel was a bit off in terms of accuracy, then.." he mused, before heaving a sigh as his arm fell to his side, the other pocketing itself inside his Coat. "Oh well, no matter. It won't be hidden for much longer then, though this does pretty much confirm something: Kira must've known about this and set a trap for us."

At this, the half indian girl nodded her head in agreement, having come to a similar conclusion to her companion. "Maybe so, Shiro."

Just then, the sound of footsteps reached their ears, making them glance to the side and notice that Ushi had walked up to them. The look in her eyes though, it had a hard edge to it with a side dish of accusation as she made the following statement. "Alright you two must've known about this." she said with a frown, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Something which caused the two to blink in surprise whilst Oishi frowned at the rudeness the half-chinese girl was showing to their companions. "Ushiwakamaru." he stated sternly in that lecturer/father tone.

However, Ushi didn't let that tone affect her judgement as she turned on him, her frown deepening as she pointed her hand at the two foreigners. "Lord Oishi, I've been suspecting this for a while now. These two know what that creature is, I know since they didn't react nearly as visibly as the rest of us. They even had the courage to fight it head on instead of running like the rest of us. It's obvious at this point that whatever those things were, they weren't anything like the Yoka,i since neither of them even looked like any." She explained, to which Ronin started whispering to one another on how they too began to notice these things, now that she had brought them up. Turning her head back to the two foreigners, Ushi frowned as she spoke sternly. "So tell us, what is going on here? What are those things and how do you know so much about them?"

For a moment, Shiro and Jinako looked at one another, opening their mental link and discussing what to do. On one hand, they felt like they'd lose the trust of the Ronin if they didn't tell them which would result in their search for the now TWO Apostles to become much harder. However, if they tried telling them, then they may get in trouble with the Hindu faction not to mention that there might be those among them that would try to become an Apostle themselves… essentially becoming another Griffith in Shiro's eyes, anyways. In the end though, they came to a conclusion, closed the link before looking back to the others. "... We'll tell you what it is, but you must keep it a secret because some people would do what we are about to say for more power." Jinako stated, seriously.

Hearing this, Oishi frowned at the sense of secrecy he felt here, but looking at their eyes told him that this was something that HAD to stay this way. Thus, he reluctantly nodded his head in agreement whilst stepping beside his adoptive daughter. "... Alright, I swear on my honor and my lord too that I will not tell anyone." He declared, glancing at his men who nodded in agreement, same with Ushi. He then turned his gaze back to the foreigners, his eyes hard now. "Now speak."

Shiro's tone had been just as hard as the older man's own as he responded instead of Jinako. "You won't like it. Alright, what those creatures are… they're called Apostles." he told them, a frown on his lips.

At this, each of the Ronin blinked in confusion, Oishi the most. "An apostle? By that, do you mean Jesus Christ's direct discipline?" he questioned, wondering what something from the Christian pantheon had been doing here.

Oh, if only that were actually the case, Jinako internally mused as she shook her head, a bitter laugh escaping her lips. "Hah no, not those types of Apostles." She said, her gaze telling Shiro to let her deal with this. "These Apostles are basically former humans who either use a Beherit, an egg with misformed face." She explained, gesturing to the direction they had come from. "What we found there, was the remnants of a Beherit's activation… which means that it was the site for an Apostle's birth."

Confusion swept through the remaining Ronin, until one of them gasped as he remembered something. "Wait, Kira had that kind of egg when he wore it as a charm." he exclaimed, quickly pulling out a notepad and, after someone gave him what looked like a stick with ink on its end, quickly scribbled down a VERY messy drawing of what looked to be an egg… although the sight alone unnerved pretty much every Ronin present, even Oishi.

However, Shiro and Jinako IMMEDIATELY recognized it, for although the drawing had been a messy one, it had indeed the shape of a Beherit. None of them could mistake the misshapen body parts on that egg shell. "Yes, that's the egg, also known as a Beherit, also known as 'drops of primed water leading to another world'. These suckers, when their wielder is in absolute despair, allow them to summon the God Hand, a bunch of POWERFUL Apostles that bend the laws of reality themselves and are damn near omnipresent, meaning they can see multiple futures and manipulate history to their benefit. But like everything becoming an Apostle has a Price, and in this case the price is simple: In order to become an apostle…" For a moment, Jinako took a few deep breaths, she may not have been present for one of those things, but Shiro had, and what he'd told her about it was not pretty. Still, she managed to get out the last part of her sentence. "...they have to sacrifice their loved one in order to become one, and those who are offered as a sacrifice, are thereby Branded like the skull Ushi found." she explained.

"What?!"

"That is barbaric!"

"How could anyone do this?!"

Of course, hearing that got the various Ronin roaring in outrage, horror and disgust. Especially Oishi who had been a man of honor above everything else. Jinako nodded her head, perfectly understanding their feelings on the matter since they practically mirrored her own. "Exactly, which is the reason why it must be kept a secret. You can imagine what people will do when driven to the depths of despair, that's how one starts becoming an Apostle. In their despair, they're willing to do anything to escape it, even sacrifice those dear to them and pretty much 'lose their empathy' to become one. The Hindu pantheon has been fighting them for so long now, mostly keeping themselves isolated from the outside world in order to contain them within their borders. Now however, since they are appearing throughout the world the trimurti and the hindu gods will have to act quickly, since they can't hold back anymore."

Finally finished with her explanation, Jinako leaned back on her spot on the ground, allowing them to digest this new, horrifying revelation. Ushi had been the one to find her voice first, and that had only been possible due to the new revelation in her mind. "I see, then that means…" she began to say, though trailed off at the end due to being unable to say it.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on the person's perspective, Shiro filled everyone else in whilst looking the least affected out of all of them. Made sense, considering what he had been through. "Yes, it's likely that Kira is now an Apostle, likely having sacrificed his father to gain the power that he has." he remarked, scowling deeply, his eyes burning with a crimson light not unlike that which his Sacred Gear sported.

"Sweet Amaterasu and her divine sun, that's why Kira's father was not with him!"

"What can we do, lord Oishi?"

As he heard this, as well as the panicked whispers from his men, Oishi stayed silent before he spoke. "It doesn't matter whether Kira is an Apostle or a monster, he will be stopped by either my hands, Ushiwakamaru, or others. He will die, and I swear that on my honor, I will not stop until our honor is restored! WE ARE NOT COWARDS, WE HAVE FACED MANY YOKAIS AND MONSTERS! ARE WE GOING TO RUN AWAY BECAUSE OF THIS?!" He shouted to the rest of the Ronin…

Who quickly gave their response.

"NO!"

"ARE WE GOING TO DIE WITHOUT AVENGING OUR LORD?!"

"NO!"

"THEN ON MY NAME OISHI ASANO AND MY LOYAL RONINS, WE WILL MARCH FORWARD UNTIL DEATH CLAIMS US!"

"YEAH!"

That little victory cry roused the morale of his men, resulting in the man raising his sword arm up high with the rest of the Ronin following suit. As he watched this as well as the unified war cry that they let out into the night skies above, Shiro then saw an illusion that replaced them with the Band of the Hawk, the setting turning into their camp when it had been in it's infantile stages, and instead of Oishi, it had been Jamal that looked at them with determined face. 'Jamal…' the boy thought to himself, stunned at the similarities he had been seeing before he closed his eyes behind his blindfold and opened them, seeing the Ronin once more.

"Well said, Samurai." A voice was heard booming around them as they looked left and right before a light shone in the night skies above, one which caught everyone's attention before a horse descended down before them. It had a rider too, one whom they managed to get a view of when the horse landed before them, a brief sound escaping its snout as the rider himself calmed it down from the landing. The rider himself turned out to be a man wearing ancient japanese armor with no torso armor to protect him, a Bow in his hands that looked so magnificent that looked like it was crafted by a god. His head was covered with a helmet that looked like a demon to intimidate its enemies. Seeing the Samurai, he got off his horse that was covered in armor before one of the Ronins recognized him. "Its-its… It's Lord Hachiman!"

Then everyone got onto their knees as they bowed down to him except Shiro and Jinako as they still Stood . He goes to them as he speaks. "I have been watching you all for a while when trying to restore your honor, even still being ordered by the Elder to not to. You won't rest until you have restored your honor. I am impressed by you and your Ronins motivation so I grant you swords from the Takamagahara to help you on your journey." He brought out his hand as a magic circle appeared before them. When it vanished, swords appeared before them floating in the air as they all looked in amazement.

Whilst they did so, Hachiman's gaze landed upon Ushiwakamaru, his eyes widening briefly before a look of happiness formed in them. "Ahhhh looks like my line is still going." he spoke, confusing the Ronin.

One of them even asked him for clarification on his words. "What do you mean, Lord Hachiman?"

Hachiman, God of War, nodded his head in Ushi's direction as he addressed the question aimed at him. "It means that girl is my descendent, part of my line and... hmm, what's this? Ahhhhh, what a wonder. it seems that not only are you my descendent, but also Minamoto no Raikou's as well."

"?!"

The others were stunned at the revelation where Ushiwakamaru's line comes from, especially not only that she is a descendent of a god Hachiman, but a hero as well. Jinako looked happy that she wasn't the only demigod there is, whilst Shiro just remained unimpressed as he was not interested in this type of stuff.

He then looked at Jinako and Shiro before he spoke. "Daughter of Ganesha and descendent of Surya, we will speak again when the situation is clear. You two deal with the problems that are at stake in our territory. For now I must leave, good luck Samurai, you all will earn a place in heaven when you die." He then disappeared with his horse as they looked at the spot before seeing the swords that Hachiman gave them. They started walking to them as they all gathered the swords before all the Ronin in their group got them.

Then, they began to wonder how they could carry all the spare swords for those who weren't with them at the moment. Fortunately, Jinako showed them that she knew a basic storage spell to help them, earning their thanks as she stored all the spare ones in order to give the swords to Oishi's group.

Afterwards, Oishi then declared that they will stay here for the night and go to the farmhouse where they can meet with the rest of the group, to which all of them agreed. While some of them were wounded Jinako offered to help them by feeding them some recovery dangos which can heal their wounds, but the backlash took form depending how fatal the wound is. If it was too deep or too fatal then she couldn't heal them which upsetted her, though the Ronin assured her that it wasn't her fault. After all, they'd chosen this path, so they would see it to its conclusion no matter where it took did result in calming the Demigoddess down, but she remained sad all the said that she couldn't have healed all of those who had fallen, the Ronin made graves for them so that they could rest in peace.

Meanwhile, Shiro remained with his horse as it was laying down on the ground, resting with him. At the same time, Shiro had Kurogane leaning diagonally on the horse's back behind him in case any Apostle or enemies came to attack them in the night. It wouldn't be the first time they did so, according to his past experiences, so he wanted to be ready. Part of him even anticipated the burning pain that his neck would erupt into when the Brand acted up, so he could vent the frustration of letting his prey escape.

Whilst he nonetheless took this rare opportunity to relax his body a bit, his ears twitched when he heard someone coming to him which prompted Shiro to raise his head. Upon doing so, he saw Ushi walking to him as they stared a bit before she sat by him which raised his eyebrow before he turned his attention away from her before she spoke. "...Thank you."

THIS caught him by surprise, proof being how he looked at her like he was looking at an alien. "Eh? You're thanking me? For what?" he questioned, wondering what she had thanked him for.

Soon enough, she gave him the answer she had, looking down at the ground. "For….. standing up for me, back when I was a Half Breed before discovering I was from two royal lines, one belonging to lord Hachiman and the other….. Raikou, even though I'm half chinese."

Ah, he then remembered what she was talking about. When he had defended her from that guy who had been reluctant to take her along with them on this quest. Perhaps that had been the first time someone other than her father who had shown her compassion, with Jinako also being that kind of rare person. "Ehhhh, maybe your family went from chinese to Japanese, what does it matter?" he remarked, not really seeing why she had some concerns over something so trivial.

"True….. So Shiro, can I ask what your purpose is?"

Shiro paused on the question Ushi asked as he began to think the past he was devoid of his true purpose in life, killing as a child mercenary merely as a means to survive. As a blank slate, he often finds himself seeking validation from those he respects most, content so long as "one person [looks his] way". He'd wanted to help his two childhood friends achieve their dream since, in his eyes, his blank slate meant that he didn't have a dream of his own. He had nothing to strive for, no goal to meet. For a while, he had been fine with that, lending his sword to a cause greater than himself.

However, the Eclipse had happened, pretty much burning all dreams that Griffith had gathered into nothingness for the sake of his own goal. All his companions, save for the comatose Brihanna, had been slain ruthlessly, used as nothing more than living sacrifices for Griffith's dream which included his friend Jamal. That resulted in the dream of opening an Orphanage in their home village to be nothing but a pipe dream now, there was likely no village even left to go back to, since everyone in that place had been slaughtered by the Apostles during that event.

After surviving the Eclipse, Shiro had become more vindictive, jaded and ruthless, wanting nothing other than to hunt down and slaughter any Apostle he encountered, and, more importantly, exact revenge on Griffith alongside the God Hand. At that time, he saved Jinako when she had been victimised in a similar manner to himself, and back then he'd only done so in order to help his childhood friend out of her coma. However, he hadn't anticipated her stating that she wanted to hunt them down like him ,for making her life hell for her. In the end, he began to speak after collecting his thoughts. "My purpose… is to take my revenge on God Hand, the Apostles and hunt them all down."

"How do you even plan to hunt them down? If what Jinako had said about how powerful they are is true..."

When Ushi asked him about that, Shiro looked up at the skies above with his blindfold-covered eyes narrowing behind it. "People are always boasting about how those things are 'invincible', but no matter what there is always a weakness in them, waiting to be armour piece has its own chinks, you could say." Shiro explained.

Ushi hummed as she took this information in, looking up at the skies above with him. "I see…. You know I was suspicious that you two were hiding something and now I see the reason why you hid this information. It definitely would make other people resort to sacrificing their precious ones for power, the dark lust for it in our hearts is that great. Kira was always an ambitious man, he would take anything for power, but to go this far… he's clearly lost his humanity."

Nodding his head at this, Shiro's mouth opened again. "Everyone has a darkness in them waiting to come out so that they can corrupt the unwary, so that they would fall into despair like what Jinako said. There is no light or darkness, not even grey, it's how people are."

"Then... how did you overcome the darkness in you, Shiro?"

"... its survival, my will. I continue to go to the darkness, but every time I do, I overcome it. I do so because if I succumb, it would make me no better than an Apostle. Tell me, do you know what a real monster is?"

Ushi blinked in confusion at this question as she looked back at him. "Who?"

"Us, humanity. Do you know why? Because we cheat, steal, slaughter, rape, or bully others. They think of themself as 'pure', but in reality it's the exact opposite since they're really doing it for selfish desires. The Church slaughtered the Witches because they thought magic was universally bad, killed many other beings because they think that they come from hell, even framed others because they thought it would corrupt them, but in reality they are already corrupted themselves."

Ushi stayed silent as what Shiro said was true. She couldn't deny it even if she wanted to, because she had been there, being abandoned shortly after her birth when she was child only because of some sense of honor and pride. If Oishi and his father hadn't found and adopted her, she knew she wouldn't have survived. She'd seen the worst in them when she was there. Ushi and Shiro were almost the same when one was betrayed while the other was abandoned. She then speaks. "It is true what you say Shiro, I just hope there are other people like Jinako, lord Oishi and lord Asano there in the world."

"We may never truly know for sure, Ushiwakamaru. Where there's light, there has to be darkness no matter how pure the light is."

"Indeed and also its Ushi."

"What?"

"Call me… Ushi, for short. Jinako nicknamed me a while ago… and I sort of liked it."

"... Alright, Ushi. Get some rest, you'll need it."

"I will and…. You too, Shiro."

* * *

**Timeskip**

They were all aware of a snowy forest as they all gathered up before Oishi spoke to the Ronin, each of them lining up in order when a scroll presented in front of them. Each of them wrote their name while chipping their finger before stamping on it to leave their bloodstains on it. Whilst this happened, Oishi declared the following. "When a crime goes unpunished, the world is unbalanced. When wrong is avenged, the heavens look down on us in shame, even our lord Hachiman when granted us the blessing of going there. We too must die for this cycle of vengeance to be closed. We will leave a record of our courage so the people will know who we were and what we did. Tonight, we will regain our honor and avenge our lord. None of us knew how long he shall live or when his time will come. But soon, all that will be left of our brief lives is the pride our children feel when they speak our names."

Ushi was the last to be on the line when she looked at others before they nodded at her for finally acknowledging her for not being a descendent of two royal lines, but a loyal retainer and samurai for being with them for so long. Even Shiro nodded at her in acknowledgement while Jinako gave her a caring smile as she smiled back at them before going to the scroll, opening her sword a bit as he put her finger at it before she stamps her blood on her name in the scroll before joining the others as Oishi picks up the scroll as he looks at them.

"Now… we are 47. The 47 Ronin."

* * *

**Timeskip**

At night time two soldiers were by the gate guarding them as they look in boredom.

"Man, why is it that we were assigned to this place, wish I was with them enjoying the weeding."

"Suck it up man, we were randomly chosen by this moment, that's how it is."

"...(SIGH) I guess you're right maybe we should-hmmm?"

They looked in front of them as they saw a single person walking to them. Both men looked inquisitively at the person, as he walked towards them in black strange clothing, though the closer he got the more they grew weary. Finally having enough, they stopped person by telling him to halt. "Who are you? this is a special event for lord Kira as this is a promising event, where is your invitation?"

"My invitation? Let me see…. Oh, here it is." Shiro pulled out his Kurogane, slicing through the two soldiers in half before they could even speak while in shock. He then sliced the gate to open as he turned around. "Alright the gate's open, now come on!"

Upon hearing him yell that, the Ronins burst forth from their hiding places. They then charged to the gate as Shiro ran with them, it not being long before various soldiers saw them as they rang the alarm. "Enemies are here! Enemies are he-Urgh!"

He was shot by an ronin archer on the top as they all aimed at the enemy. Shiro, Ushi and the Ronins thus commenced slaughtering enemies left and right as he dealt with the front lines as the ronins were skilled enough to kill the enemy as they tried to go from the sides. Jinako was with Oishi as they all did the same as she was aiming her dango at the distance while killing them in close combat. The swords that Hachiman gave them were helping a lot as they gained the advantage over the enemy. A giant iron golem was there behind the set of samurais guarding what looked like their leader. As the golem walked to them they all walked back in fear before Jinako scoffed at.

"Oh, please."

She then shone bright enough to cover their eyes, it dying down seconds later before she activated her Godly Trigger. This prompted them to stare in amazement whilst she scooped up one dango as the golem got closer, prompting the Ronins to try to warn her. Although before they could say anything, she just smirked at them. "This piece of iron is nothing. Watch."

She threw her dango at the golem before it exploded at it, it was enough to dismantle it as the ronins stared at her in awe and the enemies were looking in horror as one of them then spoke. "A DEMIGOD!"

The warriors cried out as one or two of them, a man and a woman with mismatched eyes, were widened before she went up the wall as it left a long trail of clothes. Oishi then spoke. "Ronins split up! I will go to where Kira has fled while you keep the others busy!"

"YES, MY LORD!"

"You're not going alone, old man!" Jinako said to Oishi, joining up with him.

In response, he stared at her before he went and said. "Try and keep up will ya?"

"Heh, now you're just underestimating me, old man!"

They then entered the castle as Shiro was at the other side of the castle with Ushi and the Ronins as they slowly advanced their enemies…

GRAB!

"Eek!"

...before he grabbed Ushi as she squeaked in surprise. A second later, a thread from Rashomon came out from his coat and hooked to the wall. It then proceeded to pull the two of them up on top of it, before they landed on the other side of the walls. Ushi then got out of Shiro's grip as she glared at him. "Don't do that again unless you tell me, Shiro!"

Just like when he had done so with Jinako back within her mind, Shiro rolled his eyes as he continued forwards. "The less talk the more time we get." he stated, Rashomon's thread retracting into him.

"...(SIGH) why do I even bother?"

It was then a woman appeared before them, starting to walk on over to their position before seeing Ushi. When she did, her eyes widened in shock which got mirrored by the descendent of Hachiman… which all culminated in her and Ushi running towards each other as they hugged. "Sister, I knew that you and brother would come." the woman exclaimed happily, similarly feeling tears in her eyes.

Something which Ushi nodded her head in response to, similar teardrops building in her eyes. "Of course Lady Asano." She whispered back although Shiro heard it still. She increased her grip to further comfort the woman in her arms. "We are family, despite not being blood related."

As they tearfully hugged each other Shiro looked at them before his brand was starting to bleed which means that the Apostle was here.

Thus, it prompted him to look around, and it became a good thing that he did. The male's gaze landed upon a line of clothes which had been floating near them before Shiro took out his Kurogane as it started to come together before another woman appeared before them. She walks around before them. "I should've known that you foreigners would come for us, especially for joining the half breed."

"Hmph you Apostle can't hide from me, I know your after the branded people."

"It is true, just the feeling of being in the presence of a branded person….. Makes me feel like I want to devour you whole! I just can't control myself!" She then transformed into the same centipede that attacked them when they passed at the shrine as Ushi recognized it.

"It's the second Apostle!"

"**Now you'll die knowing that sacrifice will bring nothing but despair!"**

"You talk too much."

Ushi pulled her weapon and joined with Shiro as Lady Asano then got into cover before Shiro looked at Ushi.

"Are you sure that you can handle an Apostle like this?"

"It's not how I know, I WILL win against it, Shiro."

"... try not to die Ushi." Shiro declared with a growing smirk filled with bloodlust, his eyes glowing as Rashomon surfaced in it's Beast form, growling with bloodlust over his head.

Despite herself, Ushi formed a similar smirk as the two got into their battle stances whilst the massive Apostle's body pretty much burst out the castle since it wouldn't fit inside. "You too, Shiro."

* * *

**AN:**

**Hey hunter here, new chap is now here. Essentially, Ushiwakamaru is not just Raikou's descendent but of Hachiman as well. For that God's appearance, think of his SMITE incarnation (seriously that game has a LOT of Gods, it even has Tsukuyomi now!). Hope you like what we did, and if you have any questions let us know. See you next chapter.**

**PEACE OUT!**

**Ah man things are starting to get good!... My name is Darklord bringing you another chapter of the story! Now if you noticed Ushiwakamaru is not the descendent of the original but the same as Hunter said. The reason why is because Ushi almost looks like Raikou when she is older. And just because she is chinese doesn't mean she has a japanese bloodline. I mean come on, I bet some people were either chinese or japanese people who were their ancestors. So the appearance of the centipedes is Senior and elder centipedes from OPM. Alright thank you for reading our story, be sure to leave a review if you like and I'll see you next time!**

**GOOD LUCK!**


	10. Chapter 10

To start things off, Shiro struck first, being someone who preferred to attack first to get the upper hand on the battlefield as quickly as possible. He struck by launching Rashomon forth towards the enemy from the left flank, the massive, animalistic and bloodthirsty black Beast roaring like the beast it truly was. It's maw opened wide as it made a bite into the Apostle known as the Elder Centipede in the side of its head, causing the said Apostle to hiss as it lowered it's body downwards to get out of the way.

Although, this didn't faze Rashomon's user very much if the smirk on his lips was anything to go by, with the reason why becoming clear in the next few seconds, when Ushi dashed across the Temple yard, smacking into their adversary whilst launching a downward swing of her sword. The Elder Centipede, sensing the divinity within that sword, quickly realized it's identity as something from the Gods thus shouldn't be allowed on her flesh, thus she quickly aligned her body so that it would strike her Carapace instead of the flesh underneath. As such, her bloe got deflected, launching Ushi backwards before the Elder Centipede lunged at her, unknowingly avoiding an overhead lunge from Rashomon who gave chase to her.

To counter this, Ushi quickly jumped throughout the yard, using the various statues as leverage to vault her way throughout the battlefield. Every time she did so, the massive creature smashed through those statues like they were nothing but glass mirrors before her titanic might, evading Rashomon's lunges barely though.

'Tch, looks like this one has learned much from the previous encounter…' Shiro couldn't help but think as he saw this, pondering on how she could dodge Rashomon so well whilst still giving chase towards Ushi. Said warrior girl kept her grip on her Katana as she kept slashing away at the creature's mandibles which tried to carve out her flesh, her eyes showcasing the hunger which defined an Apostle's view of those not a member of its own kind. 'Ushi may have made an error when she said it was the second Apostle, since this one is the same one which I fought before. I remember that feminine face from back then. Nevertheless, the fact that she's been able to dodge my Rashomon shows considerable intelligence. Perhaps in addition to this, she also passed this information to that other Apostle, which should be around here still if it's who I think it is…' Shiro thought to himself.

If that was really the case, then things will only get more complicated from here on out… although, that didn't mean that it would be IMPOSSIBLE to squash that damn bug. It only needed a bit more strategy than what he usually dealt with, but Shiro felt fine with that. Complex puzzles and lack of progress may frustrate him, but if it was part of a battle like this then he had better tolerance for it. It almost made him feel like he BELONGED on the battlefield… which wouldn't be too far fetched considering his background.

Anyways, seeing that Rashomon's attacks were being dodged, Shiro pulled it back to his side and then back into his Coat, calling out to Ushi at the opposite side of the yard. "Oi, warrior girl!"

"It's USHI!"

"Whatever, anyways bring the enemy to me, i'll get a good hit on her fat ass!"

A frustrated growl escaped her lips as Ushi began making her way back to her companion regardless of how he had gotten her name wrong. All the while, the Senior Centipede Apostle hissed at this, still trying to bite down on her prey instead of letting them regroup and possibly develop some kind of annoying strategy that they'd 'think' would kick her almighty backside. Just as she once again made to lunge at Ushi's backside when she had been in the middle of a jump, however…

SCHULUCK!

"**?!"**

One shrill gasp escaped her when the Senior Centipede felt various sharp spikey things push through her body from below, making her glance downwards to see various black and red spikes jutting out of the ground and into her body. She could hardly move thanks to them, even her physiology couldn't have stopped them from going right through her flesh, including her normally hard defensive shell. Judging by the way that her eyes looked like they were about to explode with how wide they were, it would be easy to assume that she did NOT see this coming, even with her previous knowledge of his Sacred Gear from their last battle. Guess this would be her punishment for that particular error, then… which would lead her to her death if he had his way.

"That's…!"

In any case, Shiro decided to answer Ushi's unasked question as she slid to a halt and wound up by his side, multiple threads from Rashomon impaling the ground behind him. "Thank Rashomon. My Sacred Gear's abilities make it so that it can be used in all sorts of ways, be it offensive and defensive. I assume you know what those are?" he questioned her at the end, getting a nod from her in return. "Well, in Rashomon's case, he's a bit of an omnivore, capable of devouring and cutting through anything, even space itself. Thus, it's only natural that it can pierce through Apostle flesh." he explained as Rashomon retracted into the ground and then back into his coat. All before it launched itself in it's true form at the Apostle once again, this time too fast for it to react in time and thus she found it biting into and chomping through a good portion of her body. Shiro smirked a bit more when he saw this, remembering how the smaller centipede had repeatedly tried to evade his Sacred Gear because of its lethality. 'Shame that its high speed regen is a bit of an annoyance…' he couldn't help but think though as he summoned his Rashomon threads whilst the creature raised her head, glaring at him with such bloodlust that if looks could kill then an entire forest would have been melted due to that gaze.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

A loud shriek burst forth from it as the creature burst forwards at high speeds, speeds which caught both of them by surprise since it easily surpassed what had been shown to the two (especially Shiro) so far. As such, the boy quickly switched to more defensive means by retracting his Threads and forming his Barrier in front of him. Just in time too, because the centipede head slammed into him in the following split second, sending him flying across the yard and into one of the walls.

"SHIRO!" Ushi called, but soon had to focus on her own survival when she saw the Apostle quickly switch her gaze towards her before lunging at her, quickly encircling around her to try and restrain her like a serpent. Fortunately, she sliced through several legs whilst flipping forwards, allowing her to escape that trap in time and end up rolling across the ground before getting right back up into a kneeling position. Raising her head, Ushi looked towards the enemy and found her lunging down at the warrior once more, to which said warrior waited till the last second before rolling to the side to avoid the lunge.

This resulted in the female Apostle burying herself into the Temple grounds, somewhere which Ushi knew she would use to strike at her from somewhere she would not expect. 'Tch, looks like i'll have to use my ears for this one…' she thought as she heard sounds of crumbling dirt beneath her feet. Glancing downwards, she saw the cracks forming and immediately jumped out of the way, being about 2 seconds away from being impaled according to her mental calculations since that was the amount of time that had passed before the female Apostle resurfaced. She didn't stop there though as she lunged once more at Ushi, swinging at her with her Mandibles in an attempt to bisect her, though those attempts got thwarted by her sword play until Ushi saw an opening and howled, thrusting her Katana towards the feminine humanoid face above the centipede head.

However…

"**Hah!"**

"?!"

… Ushi cursed under her breath as the following seconds passed by in almost a flash of motion. She neglected to take into consideration the Antennae which grabbed onto her arms and held them above her head before she could complete her strike. "Ugh!?" she exclaimed, grunting as she tried to break free from the creature's grasp to no avail. Her attempts only increased when she saw the female Apostle's Mandibles rear themselves backwards in preparation to slice her in half at the waist. 'What the hell…?! S-So strong…!' she exclaimed further in her mind.

"**Now, die in despair, worm!"**

Howling in victory, the female Apostle brought her Mandibles in for a nice, clean cut, intending to do something which she had done to countless humans she had hunted down over the centuries she had been alive…

Only, at the last second Ushi performed an action which surprised her. She went and lifted her lower body upward and kicked the air above her, effectively pulling off a flip-like motion which swung her body out of her Mandibles path… as well as allowed her to bring her heels down onto the female Apostle's humanoid face with as much power as she could muster… what Ushi DIDN'T intend on doing was adding in a burst of divine power to the mix, something which she as a descendent of Hachiman and Raikou, had the ability to do. Hence, the resulting SMACK of her heels against the creature's face made her shriek loud enough that the entire Temple could hear it as well as force her to let go of her arms, allowing Ushi the chance to land on the ground then jump forwards to swing her Katana down on it's centipede head.

A strike…

Which got blocked by a reflexive movement from her Mandibles.

'Tch, guess I didn't hit hard enough-GURGH!' She began to think, before a smack from the Centipede head knocked the wind out of her and sent Ushi rolling across the ground. She didn't let this stop her though and instead used the momentum to get onto her feet again, stabbing her sword into the ground to help slow herself to a halt… although she quickly jumped back again to avoid an overhead slam resulting in her clearing some extra distance between them. 'Grrr, looks like fighting an Apostle's harder than I thought…' Ushi mused mentally, gritting her teeth as various wounds appeared over her body. Seemed as though she hadn't managed to escape that last attack unscathed, though the wounds were comparatively light compared to the one she'd dished out.

Still, she couldn't help but think about that surge of energy she had just felt before launching that heel kick. From what it had felt like, it seemed like some sort of divine intervention or something, but more… personal. She remembered once asking Jinako how she fought and apparently she got some strange energy in her which helped amplify her attacks like those Dongos she used in her 'Godly Trigger' as she called it. 'Was that what I just used? I'm similar to her and Shiro, so perhaps it's indeed possible… but that was just instinct, how the heck do I call it out manually...?' she wondered, growling in frustration. Though, one good thing was that she hadn't lost her sword yet, the sword gifted to her and the other Ronin by her ancestor Hachiman. Losing a sword in this battle could very well mean certain death, since it had the god's will empowering it making it quite difficult for those of the monster and the demonic variety. She bet that the only reason she hadn't died yet was EXACTLY because the Apostle had been cautious of this sword.

"**GGGGRRRRRR… Foolish mortal… to think that you are… a descendent of THEM…"**

Of course, once the female Apostle had recovered (which only took a couple seconds), she growled angrily under her breath as she loomed over the defensive samurai woman, Lady Asano (who had been able to amazingly keep out of the fight so far) watching on in worry for her sister figure's safety. Meanwhile, Ushi just sneered at the Apostle, not being afraid of her whatsoever. "Oh buzz off shit breath…" she stated. "Of course someone as dishonorable and pathetic as you would be losing. He who fights without honor, lives and dies without it." she declared, her sword gleaming menacingly.

"**Silence, bitch! You are nothing but a spec to me! Now, die!"**

"You forget about me, bitch?"

"**?!"**

Just then, a familiar male voice broke out and wound up silencing the two fighters, resulting in the voice's owner jumping out of the wall where he had been knocked into earlier. That person, Shiro, scowled as he held his Kurogane in one hand, reared it backwards, then with a mighty PSHEW threw it downwards like a deity striking someone down from the heavens before the two of them could even react.

At the last second though, the female apostle managed to shift her body and dodge the Spear at the last second, letting it impale the ground right up to the tip of its blade. Looking back upwards, the female Apostle snickered mockingly at him, thinking that his attack had failed.

"**What a waste. I had wondered if that Spear of yours was special, but-"**

BOOM!

With a quick thrust generated from firing a large energy arrow from his Nightingale behind him, Shiro crashed into the ground in front of the Apostle which generated a crater large enough to house a small elephant… as well as knock everyone off balance along the way. Save for the Apostle of course who used the long legs she had to dig into the ground and keep her balance. "Well, to be fair I weighed my options, gauged your characteristics and decided on a battle plan, with my Spear's abilities not being a factor." Shiro began as he formed Rashomon once again… though this time it appeared as a Tendril tipped by a large hand instead of its beast form or the claw one, which he then launched at the female Apostle faster than she could react. "First, catch you aff guard."

"**Guh!"**

Before she could react, the female Apostle gasped when the hand grabbed her by her head with enough force to make it so she couldn't break free no matter how hard she tried. She even tried to loop her body up so she could call her rear part back from the area behind the Temple so she could use it to strike at him, but it seemed that Shiro had anticipated that. "Second, isolate you."

A quick flicking motion later, and the hand from Rashomon flicked the female Apostle up into the air, with a strength great enough that the entire creature had ascended up to a couple hundred meters. As a shrill cry escaped her when this happened, she then looked down and noticed that Shiro had launched himself upwards with his Rashomon hand, which had retracted into him the moment that it had fully extended itself for this pseudo slingshot move towards the enemy. "Third…"

"**W-What are you…?!"**

As he got close enough for his final stage of his plan, a plan which he'd thought up whilst pretending to be out of the fight when he'd been knocked away (though he did have a bit of a headache temporarily), Shiro began to activate his other Trump Card than his Armor. His right arm's hand lit up in flames and formed what looked like… a flaming spear, one with various symbols over it's shaft and blade whilst also radiating a MASSIVE level of power… enough power that if it hit a continent then it would do some MAJOR reconfiguration on it.

"First time using this on a live enemy since the power's so great, but… you'll do in these conditions: BRAHMASTRA KUNDALA."

With that, Shiro threw the Spear RIGHT into the female apostle's mouth, his target being as such. He'd intended to only use this trick when necessary, and considering the circumstances he felt this qualified. Though, he had to figure out how to isolate her from the Temple and limit the collateral damage…

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

With the rewards of his efforts being the atomic bomb sized explosion that consumed EVERYTHING that the female Apostle had to offer, her whole body, whilst Shiro covered his face with his arms and gritted his teeth. 'FUCK! This feels like I'm staring at a miniature freaking sun or something! Even now I feel like my arms are going to melt off!' Shiro thought to himself as he fell to the ground, though Rashomon came out in it's large hand form to slam into it in a palm-like manner and hlt his fall, allowing him to land safely before retracting into him again. '...And that was just an incomplete, unmastered version of it. If this Brahmastra is THAT powerful… what about the real thing…?' Shiro wondered as he looked up, observing the power which he had been granted by Shiva to use.

Thinking back on something, Shiro once remembered something that he'd heard from a servant: that 'with great power comes great responsibility'...

After seeing what he had right now, the male could honestly admit that he could understand that one better right now.

* * *

BOOM-CRASH-HACK-SLASH-BOOM-CRASH-HACK-SLASH-BOOM-CRASH-HACK-SLASH-BOOM-CRASH-HACK-SLASH-BOOM-CRASH-HACK-SLASH-BOOM-CRASH-HACK-SLASH-!

The sounds of clashing blades could be heard within the Temple itself, as Oishi and Jinako ruthlessly hunted down the Apostle known as Kira. Although neither of them had seen him transform as of yet, thanks to him hiding within the Temple walls, neither of them had many doubts about his identity. ESPECIALLY since the moment that the man had seen Oishi's sword he had BOLTED away from him whilst fighting with all he had to keep that blade from getting anywhere near his flesh.

Eventually, the trio found themselves within a large stone dojo-like room, surrounded by long wooden pillars. There, Oishi finally charged at Kira, who took the form of a black haired man wearing blue robes befitting someone from a noble bloodline, who wielded a Katana which he used to block several slashes from Oishi's own Katana.

This resulted in them entering a deadlock whilst Jinako (who had deactivated her Godly Trigger in exchange for her human form) held her two Axes at the ready to jump in at any time. Whilst the two men engaged in their heated deadlock, Kira looked down and sneered with no small amount of contempt, a cruel gaze behind his eyes. "You… dare to strike against a lord… Ronin…?" he spat, his words like they were poisonous venom, prompting Oishi to spit back at him. His spit flew into the man's eyes, causing him to cry out in a mixture of pain and disgust as Oishi headbutted him, knocking him backwards.

"One who turns his back on the ways of bushido… does not even DESERVE to speak like a human…" Oishi sneered back, getting into a ready stance. This was then followed by how he dashed forwards with the intent to leap onto his unbalanced adversary and end him as quick as possible, for if he truly WAS an Apostle like they strongly believed, then killing him in his human form would be much easier than if he were to transform into his Apostle one.

However, at the last second…

FWAP!

"Guh?!"

Oishi gasped, his eyes being replaced by nothing but whiteness as all the air got knocked out of his lips. The reason? From behind Kira's back, the man sprouted what looked like the lower body of a Centipede, a similar one to the body of the second Apostle that had attacked Jinako and the others back at the Shrine... only, one on a much smaller scale. After twirling around the Ronin's strike, Kira swung his hips to smack the man with this makeshift 'Tail', knocking the life out of him and sending him flying out of the room… into the outside of the Temple which came with a long drop down.

"Hah! How's that, you pathetic Ronin!"

"Ah, Old man!"

Seeing this, Jinako gasped in horror and shock, mentally confirming that Kira was indeed the Apostle which had accompanied the other one whilst also switching from attacking to a search/rescue mentality. Putting her Axes onto her hips again, she dashed forth towards the place which Oishi had been sent flying out of, sliding under a Tail swipe launched by Kira in an attempt to block her before sausage flipping over a follow-up slash. Rolling across the ground, Jinako eventually jumped right out of the Temple after her comrade, her senses informing her of Kira giving chase.

She soon caught sight of the falling Oishi who looked to be barely started in his regaining of his consciousness, so Jinako knew for a FACT that he wouldn't have survived a drop at this height, so with a quick activation other Godly Trigger (which also had the side effect of turning her into a literal flashbang for Kira's eyes), the indian-Japanese girl managed to catch him in her two lower arms whilst still holding onto their items, then began firing various energy-empowered Dango projectiles in order to propel them further away from the Temple.

This allowed the two of them to crash into a large plain outside of the Castle, with Jinako taking the brunt of the damage in the first impact which bounced her back into the air. This resulted in her bouncing several times, but after the fifth one she managed to right herself in mid-air before slamming both feet into the ground, sliding along it till she halted herself with Oishi in her arms like she were some prince rescuing a Princess.

Kneeling down and gently laying his body on the ground, Jinako dropped her items and began shaking the man a bit. "Oi, oi old man! Wake the hell up, ya crazy old timer!" She yelled in his face, her gaze one of urgency since she knew for a FACT that Kira would be here at any second. She could sense his energy signature rapidly getting closer as well, prompting her to do what she could in terms of healing magic to try and repair the damage done to Oishi's body. Thus, instead of a shattered rib cage, Jinako's divine energy restored all but 2 of his ribs as well as repaired the damage the bone fragments would have done to his muscles and internal organs.

As such, the man groaned as he stirred awake, his eyes barely opening before looking up to Jinako's face. "Ah… my apologies… for such an insolent sight, Lady Jinako…" he whispered, slowly getting into a sitting position and grasping his Katana's hilt, the weapon having clattered beside him by a stroke of fortune. "Looks like… we have confirmation, now…"

Jinako could only nod as well. "Yeah…" she began, getting to her feet after picking up her items. She chose not to turn off her Godly Trigger though, since she felt that its power would be needed in the fight ahead. "You got that right… Still, this just means that the guy's going to be just as hard to beat as any other Apostle…" after she said this, a small bitter chuckle escaped her lips. "As much as it makes me a hypocrite to say this, I'm not as capable at killing these things as Shiro is…"

"Then let us change that together…" Oishi declared, a small smirk on his lips as he rubbed his mouth with his robe's right sleeve. "After all, if YOU will find it hard, it shall prove an even harder trial for myself…"

"Heh, true…"

No sooner had the two confirmed this together, did they look up and see a long figure burst out of the Temple, shooting across the airspace and rapidly advancing towards their position. Quickly, the two of them jumped backwards in order to avoid the following Mandible slash which smashed into the ground beneath them, having the potential to spear through their flesh had they stayed there.

Once the two landed and got into their battle stances, Jinako and Oishi glared up at Kira… who had now transformed into his full Apostle Form: the second, smaller Centipede which had attacked them earlier. "A bug… how fitting for an honorless scumbag like yourself…" the Ronin declared whilst swinging his sword downwards, slashing through a leg which the Centipede Apostle had slashed at him with.

However, Kira didn't give a shit as he hissed ferociously at the two.

"**When I'm through with you, I will thoroughly ENJOY raping that foolish Lord's daughter before your dying eyes! That is my right! That is my purpose! That! Is! My PRIVILEGE!"**

With that declaration, Kira shrieked as he lunged towards them, intent on slaughtering the two once and for all. Fortunately, Kira wasn't as fast as the female Apostle so they managed to dodge by jumping out of the way and going onto opposite sides.

The first one of them to attack turned out to be Oishi, who ran forwards in order to slash at the creature's head. Kira however, noticed this and quickly launched a Tail smash from above, which the man noticed and quickly jumped back to avoid, cursing under his breath all the while. However, he didn't let that stop him and the moment he could do so, Oishi jumped forwards once more, using the Tail as a jumping platform to leap on towards the creature's head. All the while, Kira retaliated with his Antennae, swinging them at him rapidly to which Oishi responded with some rapid sword swings.

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!

Eventually, Kira got too tired of this exchange and encircled around Oishi's form, heabutting him in the side before he could raise his Katana up in defence. "Guh!" The man exclaimed, grunting as he quickly recovered in the air and slammed into the ground, using his sword to slow to a halt by stabbing its tip into the dirt. When he stopped and looked up, Oishi gasped when he saw Kira already lunging towards him, likely intending to finish Oishi off right now before he could recover.

SMASH-SMASH-SMASH-SMASH!

"**?!"**

"Forget about me, fucker?!"

Unfortunately for Kira and fortunately for Oishi, both of them forgot about Jinako who had a bunch of Dangos floating around her, coated with her Divine energy. Dangos which she'd launched at the enemy and slammed into the side of its head with the force of a bunch of human sized boulders behind them. As a result, Kira gasped as he got sent crashing into the ground beside the middle aged Ronin, remaining still for a moment in a daze, one which allowed Oishi to get in close for an overhead slash which got followed by multiple stabs. As such, these attacks managed to cut through multiple parts of his Carapace as well as a few of his legs. Although, the Apostle had managed to get his head away in time to prevent them from hitting it.

"**Grrr! You bitch!"**

A furious roar escaped his lips as Kira launched a wide sweeping motion with his Tail, knocking Oishi aside before he focused on Jinako. Oishi he could deal with quite easily and at any time, however it would appear that this woman had powers that would be quite effective against him in battle. He'd known since their last encounter back at the Shrine that she had been… different, compared to the many prey he had hunted over the years, so that could only mean that she was someone too dangerous of a threat to his life. It didn't help that she seemed to have above human capabilities just like himself, making her the one he needed to eliminate the most out of the two. Then, he'd kill Oishi and finally regroup with his servant, so they could proceed with their plans together.

Thus, Kira lunged towards Jinako with his Mandibles bared for all to see, quickly closing the distance between them whilst raising and bringing down the left one, which Jinako dodged by sidestepping. She then deflected his second strike with her Axe before raising and bringing it down, though Kira reared himself back to avoid it before following up with a bunch of whipping motions with his Antennae that Jinako blocked by throwing her hand forwards and creating a Magic Circle. One which deflected the whip-like strikes away from her and towards the ground, allowing her to jump up into the air and come down with an overhead smash with her Axe that was aimed towards Kira's humanoid face for the second time. Sadly, Kira managed to block it with his Mandibles then push her back, sending her sliding along the ground.

Oishi watched on, stunned as the battle between the two only escalated further and further with Jinako constantly dodging and slashing apart Kira's legs as the long body he had constantly tried to wrap around his opponent to no avail. Seeing what he did, the man had to grimace to himself as he got ready to jump back into the fray, his brow littered with sweat born from exerting so much throughout this entire operation. 'That bastard… no normal man should be able to wound such a beast… he just swats me aside like i'm nothing…' the man thought in a mix of irritation and frustration. At this thought, he had to wonder about Jinako and her companion Shiro who fought these beasts on more equal footing. 'Can those two, who can fight them… be really human? Or are they monsters themselves…? No, whatever they are, they aren't anything like this beast, they have had a sufficient number of opportunities to kill us, yet they didn't. In addition, Ushiwakamaru has taken a liking to them, and I believe in my daughter…' the man thought as he readied his Katana. 'I should just focus on getting one good shot in, one shot which can help do the finishing blow…'

Meanwhile, amidst the jumping, twisting and flipping she did, Jinako grimaced as she kept dodging Kira's attacks one after the other. She didn't have much of an opening to counterattack with all these strikes the bastard had been launching at her, not to mention that she has had to avoid getting surrounded by this thing since those centipede legs (which still had huge numbers even after she'd been chopping them off) would try to rip her body apart the second they got the opportunity to or she showed a brief opening. She'd already gotten a few accumulated injuries in the form of various scratches across her body thanks to them.. Scratched which fortunately didn't hurt too much, but they ran deep so she felt trails of blood running down them. 'This isn't good, if I can't figure out something soon, then I might as well die here… something that I REFUSE to let happen!' she internally raged, gritting her teeth before her eyes widened when an idea presented itself to her. 'Wait, that could work…. But, I'm not that good with it yet, so its a 50-50 chance… I'll just have to risk it…!'

"**Hah! You're wide open, slut!"**

"?!"

Whilst she thought of that idea, Jinako's eyes widened when she saw Kira rushing in to spear her through the gut with his Mandibles. She must have lowered her guard when that moment of realization had occurred, she theorized, to which Jinako gritted her teeth again as she made sure to pump energy into her legs to jump out of the way…

STAB!"

"**Guh!"**

Only for a certain Samurai to stop him by jumping onto the back of Kira's long Carapace, then use that to jump to the top of his head and stab his Katana straight into the top portion, a fierce snarl escaping his lips as he shouted the following declaration. "For my loooooooooooooooord!"

"**Y-You… bastaaaaaard!" **

Fury EXPLODED within his being as Kira swung himself about, eventually tossing Oishi off him and onto the ground below. The middle aged Samurai grunted at this, having been forced to let go of his Katana which now lay inside the Centipede-shaped Apostle's back… something which Kira remained aware of thanks to the searing burning sensation he felt from there. Fortunately, it wasn't something that he couldn't ignore, and he could just pull the weapon out when he was done with this annoyance as he loomed over Oishi, who had gotten onto one knee as he looked up towards him. One eye had been closed shut thanks to a trail of blood rolling down the side of his head, with some smaller blood trails coming down the sides of his mouth. Aside from that, the man looked like he had one foot in the grave already, thus Kira in his fury-driven state, prepared to put him COMPLETELY under this time. "**You… you will DIE this day! Damn Ronin! Join your master in hell-!"**

"GANESHA IMPACT!"

****"**?!"**

Just before he could end the old Samurai by stabbing him through his heart with his Mandibles, Kira's eyes nearly flew out of his sockets when he heard, and then felt, this HUGE ass weight slam on top of him from behind. The weight had been so large and vast in it's reach, that he felt like he had lost contact with over half of his lower body, making him go pale even though he was in the form that he was most powerful in. In a frantic desire to know what had caused this, Kira glanced behind him as best he could… and saw nothing but a silhouette, a vague one but one big enough to rival the size of an entire Temple. This silhouette could hardly be recognizable though, but what he DID see were four large arms holding him down and preventing Kira's lower body from moving. "**Wha…?! Damn bitch, let me go! LEMMEGO-LEMMEGO-LEMMEGO!" **Even as Kira tried to break free, wriggling like a little worm instead of a centipede, his efforts didn't yield any results, not to mention that there was the sound of something exploding going off in the distance at this time. Something which Kira managed to see as this huge ball similar to that of a miniature sun up in the heavens above… something which got accompanied by a gaping sense of loss followed by a sense of dread. "**No…!"**

"Old man, what the heck are you waiting for?! Can't hold this for long, so do what you said you would!"

"W-With pleasure, Jinako!" Oishi, when he heard Jinako exclaim this sentence, quickly nodded his head and regained his sanity, clenching his fists as he put a portion of his remaining energy into the following sprint he dashed into. When he cleared the distance between them, he leapt onto the Centipede Apostle's head once more, flipping himself about to avoid the lashes launched by him in defence as Kira constantly thrashed and roared about, refusing to accept this outcome. Grabbing onto his Katana after managing to climb up whilst holding on for dear life, something which Oishi almost failed to do on multiple occasions, he grabbed onto his Katana and slashed several times, the divine blade cutting into Kira's flesh with the blade cutting through his armour. There, he exposed the creature's brain, something which pulsated like it was a living heart to the man's disgust.

However, fuelled by the vengeance which he had sought after all this time, Oishi had only one thing to say as he raised his Katana up high. "Taste… my lord's… courage!" he bellowed, finally driving the sword deep into the brain and out of the humanoid face's nose. What followed, was well Kira returning to his human form but as a naked man with a sword jutting out of his head. Oishi's sword…

The sword of one of the 47 Ronin.

But, that wasn't enough for him, he wanted to make DAMN sure that this guy had been killed. As such, Oishi then walked on over to Kira, pulling the body up into an upright sitting position before he pulled his Katana free and slashed at it, cutting off Kira's head. As a result, the head went flying off somewhere, ending the long time revenge alongside the avenging of his father and Lord.

With that done, a wave of fatigue washed over Oishi, or rather it would be more accurate to say that he finally lost the thing keeping him going through the fatigue that he had already accumulated. Therefore, Oishi's arms fell to his sides as he then fell to the ground before Jinako ran on over to him, holding him steady whilst reverting back to her human form. Thanks to using that technique earlier, she had used up the divine energy she had left, burning through it like an animal ravenously devouring its food. It was a technique which she had been working on since a year ago, but hadn't quite mastered as of yet, one where she could summon a massive energy version of her father in order to smash into her opponents like those wrestlers one would see in that wrestling series Smackdown. She'd actually been inspired by the idea from those kinds of shows. Still, as she held the wounded man, Jinako ran her gaze down his form with worry in her eyes. "Hey, old man….. How are you feeling?" she questioned, frowning.

Weakly, Oishi's eyes opened as he looked up at Jinako"I feel…. Tired but without you and Shiro's help…. I would not have succeeded today, if you and Shiro hadn't found out he turned into….. Shura."

"Shura?"

"Our terms of demons when they lose their humanity. Now I must go and show them that their lord is dead."

"Ok….. take this."

She pulled out a vial that had a yellow light dot in the middle before holding it over him at an angle, a drip of liquid appearing from it's end that dripped onto his body. A second or two later, he glowed in yellow aura for a few moments until it died down. Looking down at himself, Oishi became surprised at seeing how he no longer had any of the fatigue he'd been wrecked by. It didn't take him long to realize what had happened though, as he looked back up to the young girl. "Phenex tear?"

Jinako nodded her head at this, a small sheepish smile on her lips as she rubbed the back of her head. "Bit of a long story, but essentially my overprotective dad gave me this in case I have any fatal wounds for emergencies." she explained, mentally cringing when she'd remembered how one time her father had gushed on about the possibilities of her being hurt by the Apostles in the future, freaking out like any parent she'd heard should. It reminded her of how her mother had been, when she'd been alive still, which had only made her appreciate her father all the more. She had hoped for so long back then, that her father would treat her like her mother had done, it made her feel… happy, knowing that she had a loving father.

Even if it was a bit annoying.

"Heh…. once again, you have my thanks."

"No problem, old man. Now, let's go. Wouldn't want to keep your men waiting for you, would you?"

"Indeed."

* * *

**Later**

Once Oishi was properly healed up, he stood on his own two feet before he took Kira's head by the hair(Which creeped out Jinako). Not too long afterwards, they walked back into the Temple where the battlefield had been raging between the Ronin and the Temple guards. There, everyone halted their battle when they saw the two of them approach, Oishi raising Kira's severed head up high as he yelled the following. "FOR LORD ASANO!"

All the soldiers and Ronins looked at Oishi before seeing their lord dead as they then dropped to their knees in defeat whilst the Ronin all cheered joyously with building tears in their eyes. Shiro, Ushi, and Mika then Ushi and Miko smiled, this sight confirming to them that they finally avenged the fallen Lord. Though, Shiro smiled more about how the other Apostle had been defeated, since the rest of them had more concerns about the fallen Lord than he would, one of the few times he'd grieve would be over the loss of someone precious to him… so the only time he had ever grieved had been after the Eclipse, when everyone whom called him comrade had been ruthlessly slain just as their dreams had been within reach.

Part of him DID wonder though, what had those Apostles done to their Beherits? When he'd used his Brahmastra before Shiro felt like he'd destroyed her Beherit with the ensuing sun-like explosion, but from the looks of things Kira had not possessed one himself… why was that? He didn't know, but then again Shiro didn't know a damn thing about those things.

Meh, he'd ponder it later, maybe he'd even ask the Hindu Gods if he had the chance.

In the current times, the group of four walked out of the gate with the soldiers still kneeling down to them. All the Ronins and everybody else went out of the temple before going to the nearby village as the sun was finally coming up. It took a while, like 2 hours or so, until they arrived at the village to which they received quite… a welcome, one could say. One of the ladies openly wept before she hugged Chikara, something which the man seemed both uncomfortable yet happy with. The sight prompted the white haired descendent of Karna to guess that she had been his mother. before she let him go since they still had something to do.

Following this, the 47 Ronin, Shiro, Ushi and Jinako all walked the village before seeing what looked like a stone with japanese words on it. As they stood before it, all of them kneeled down to it before Oishi spoke. "Rest now, Father. You are avenged." He then put the sword at the gravestone which Shiro now knew before Jinako joined the others as they prayed.

Over at the side, Shiro looked at his hands for a moment, wondering if he should do anything. It wasn't like he had any connections to this Lord, but… seeing as how this man had such loyal comrades who would go this far for him, Shiro thought for a few moments before he came to a conclusion: that this Lord… he must have been a charismatic individual, to have had these men's loyalty… just like how Jamal had back when he and Shiro himself had been part of the Band of the Hawk. Therefore, with those thoughts in mind, Shiro exhaled as he slowly put his hands together in a praying posture, joining the rest of them in praying.

Though, what he didn't see was how Jinako and Ushi had looked at him during this moment, both of them being slightly surprised at the gesture that he'd done. However, this didn't last long before they smiled at him warmly.

Looked like their resident loner had a bit of a soft side in him, after all...

* * *

"I gave you a command, forbidding you to take revenge. not only you disobeyed me but also dragged the diplomats from the hindu's to take part of your plot."

The following day, the 47 Ronin all were gathered by the temple which they had entered before, during their first visit to this Village. In front of them, stood an old-looking man with four fox-like tails swinging behind him as he looked with rage down at Oishi and his Ronin. Meanwhile, Shiro and Jinako stood off to the side since they were diplomats, not actual criminals.

Internally, Shiro couldn't help but be disgusted with this man, thinking that they shouldn't have gotten revenge for someone whom they had clearly respected and wanted to avenge for his wrongful murder. It didn't help that his non-human features kept reminding him of the Apostles, making him have to hold back his urge to summon Rashomon (which was growling like a beast in his mind). If he were to guess right, this man only cared about the bigger picture to the point where he had become detached from those whom he ruled over. He'd seen such things before back in his home village, thus Shiro wanted nothing more than to run Rashomon's threads right through every single one of his vitals. However, he refrained mostly because that wouldn't benefit him much beyond personal satisfaction.

Meanwhile Oishi, who sat in the Japanese Seiza position with the 47 Ronin doing the same behind him, dared not raise his head as he responded against these allegations. "Forgive me elder, but a man-no, a shura may not live under the same heaven which lord Hachiman had granted us as the murderer of his lord." He declared.

Not like the man cared much for his words if his next few ones were of any indication. "That doesn't matter brat, I told you to not take revenge in order to not give our diplomats a bad image to us but now not only you, your ronins and that halfbreed disobeyed me but also dragged the hindu pantheon into this!" He spat, Tails fluttering angrily.

"Elder, I did not drag them….. They came of their own accord." At this point, Shiro would have just stepped in to provide proof, not liking how Oishi was being treated using HIM as a verbal lash... had Jinako not quickly grabbed his forearm to stop him, shaking her head when he looked at her.

"It doesn't matter! If lady Yasaka or Amaterasu would this they would-"

"Would what kitsune?"

Before the man could finish his words, his eyes along with the Ronin, Oishi, Shiro, Ushi and Jinako all became saucers when they heard a deep, masculine voice below across the atmosphere. A voice filled with the might of a being who could have decided all their fates right then and there, before seconds later a magic circle appeared by the elder kitsune. From that Magic Circle, a being rose out to stand before them, that thing being Hachiman, the same lord who had given the Ronin their swords and the blessing to go to heaven when they died.

The elder had his eyes widened before he stuttered. "L-L-Lord Hachi-man! Th-the, Oishi, his ronins and that halfbreed disobeyed the order and dragged the hindu diplomats into their own quarrel!"

"Halfbreed? That's my descendant which you're talking about. You're not only disrespecting her, you're disrespecting me as well."

"(GASP) wh-what?! B-but our honor!"

"I allowed them to take their revenge to help them regain their pride as Samurai, since I am a god of honor, Kitsune. I gave them the swords of Takamahaga, swords which they will now keep for the future in case that Shura would come again. Now, begone kitsune it's time that you retire….. Now." The elder stuttered in denial before he sighs as he then turned around and walked away from them.

With him gone, Hachiman heaved a small sigh, muttering something under his breath before he looked at the ronins with pride. "You all have done well, Ronin...no, Samurai. You not only regained your honor, but also stopped that Shura from spreading its influence throughout Japan. Amaterasu, Susanoo and Tsukyoimi are grateful that you all stopped them. I'm proud of you all as God of Honor, especially you my young descendant, this deed should not go unrewarded. Oishi Asano, I grant you this blade the Juuchi Yosamu or otherwise known as the 10,000 Cold Nights."

With an open mouth and a face full of shock, Oishi quickly lowered his head again whilst holding out both of his hands. Not long afterwards, a magic circle appeared at the side before a blade takes the form of an illustrious gold katana roughly .78 meters in length, a little over the average length of an average katana, with a red ribbon wrapped around the hilt.

As he received it, Oishi looked down in wonder at the beautiful blade, feeling an almost indiscriminate kind of 'edge' to it. Like it didn't care what it would cut as long as it did its job well: a true blade. Glancing to the side, a firm look formed in his eyes as the man walked on over to Ushiwakamaru who was currently kneeling at the back of the Ronin. Stopping before her, Oishi smiled like a parent as he presented the blade to her instead.

Obviously this stunned everyone around them, even his daughter whose eyes shook at the action. "?! Lord Oishi why...?" she muttered, disbelievingly.

At this, Oishi's smile only widened as he gave his heartfelt response. "You have been by my side for a long time daughter, you deserve this blade more than I do, besides the blade that Lord Hachiman gave me fits well with me."

Ushi could not believe this. Here she was, being presented such a treasure as this Katana, the Juuchi Yosamu, by the man who took care of her when nobody else gave a damn about her. Before Shiro and Jinako had come along, he had been her sole confidant, parent and guide, so being presented something like this had been a first for her. She couldn't receive any gifts from anyone due to her 'halfbreed' status, not even by him in the past. This marked the first change in that, so with eyes starting to fill with tears, Ushi nodded firmly whilst pressing her lips together with her teeth from inside her mouth before she lowered her head and held her hands out to receive it. "I-I….. Thank you… father." she whispered with far more gratitude than she could ever have expressed with words.

Hachiman looked impressed, if anyone can tell without his mask, he was smiling at the camaraderie between father and daughter. Family didn't have to be blood, that was what he saw this sight before him as an example of. "A wise man you are Oishi Asano, you will be my right hand once you ascend to heaven."

Turning towards the God of Honor, Oishi lowered his head in reverence once again. "Thank you my lord." he spoke earnestly.

At this point, the Ronin (now Samurai with their honor restored) each beamed happily knowing that they had the support of one of their famed deities. Hachiman had been a rather famous deity amongst the Samurai throughout their history, being worshiped by them first due to how he represented the ways of the Samurai the most. Thus, the knowledge that he approved of their actions had fuelled them with an everlasting pride and glee, alongside the revelation that, as of this moment, their futures would be ripe with fortune no matter what.

With this done, Hachiman turned to the Hindu diplomats. "Now then, descendent of Surya and daughter of Ganesha, come with me to see the Shinto trinity. They have been waiting for the two of you." Hachiman waved his hand as a magic circle appeared next to him as he waits for the two of them

"Huh…. oh! Almost forgot about that come on Shiro. Remember, Vishnu did send us here for a diplomat."

"... (SIGH) fine."

All this stuff had made Shiro forget the reason why they had been here in the first place, only for Jinako to remind him. He'd have liked to return home at this point, so he could rest and continue his training. He wanted to use this experience to replay how he could have handled the fight against the Apostles better, what would have happened if he'd tried other tactics, he had a LOT of data to analyze. Sadly, that wouldn't be happening for a while yet, to his dismay as Shiro DESPISED anything related to politics with a passion. All he saw of it was a bunch of morons shouting at one another without getting anything done, but as Jinako had said, they had a job to do and Shiro wouldn't like it if he had left without getting it done. It was like taking a mission, he'd do it till the end even if he didn't like it, it had been something of a personal philosophy of his. Commit to your tasks and get shit done, that was something Shiro liked to keep in his heart.

Thus, they went to Hachiman's Magic Circle…

"Jinako, Shiro wait!"

Only to hear a female voice stop them. They turned around to see Ushi running up to them, the new Katana having been strapped to her waist in place of her previous one, before stopping in front of them. She placed her hands on her thighs and leaned over to catch her breath, before looking up at them with a light bout of sweat on her forehead. "Will…. Will you two be coming back?" She questioned them, frowning in worry.

At this, Shiro and Jinako glanced at one another, before looking back to her. "We will Ushi me and Shio just have to talk with them before we come back, we keep our words very serious, we promise." the latter told her with a small smile, whilst the former stayed silent but gave her a nod of agreement. Plus, he didn't say it, but Shiro wanted to know what sparring with Ushi would be like since she would likely be fighting differently compared to Jinako who fought more like a mage than a warrior.

"I see…. Alright I'll be waiting for the two of you." she declared, nodding to herself as if trying to reign in her emotions.

"Don't worry we'll be back soon goodbye Ushi."

"... good luck Ushi."

Ushi nodded her head at the two of them, smiling brightly. This prompted them to smile in return (well, a half smile from Shiro) before they raised their right hands and high fived one another above their heads. "You two Jinako and Shiro."

Once this was done, the Hindu duo entered the magic circle with Hachiman as they disappeared in it before the magic circle disappeared too.

* * *

**AN:**

**WHEW! FINALLY! Hunter here, and the next chapter is finally here! Not too stoked about the fight scene, but we're nearing the end of this arc so its all good. Honestly, I'd say Frenzy is going to be one of the more original DXD stories since it does stuff I haven't seen too much in the fandom, incorporates lesser known series and films to it. Anyways, hope you like what we did, and look forward to the next one.**

**PEACE OUT!**

**Ah man finally we're done!... My name is Darklord bringing you another chapter of the story! Now we have copied in the other series or movie 47 ronin but we made some changes in it to make it our own like Kira and the witch were apostles, no tengu scene, no wedding infiltrators and no execution scene. Hachiman is a god of honor so he would grant them to regain their honor. Alright thank you for reading our chapter, be sure to leave a review if you want and I'll see you next time!**

**GOOD LUCK!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Timeskip 2 months later**

Shiro currently trudged through a large, and really wide snowy forest area alone. Unlike before, Jinako was not with him this time, it was just a simple old Shiro. The reason why she was not with him this time, was because she had to, as a daughter of Ganesha, partake in the festival of Diwali, an important day for almost all of the hindu gods. Apparently, it was a Hindu festival of lights, usually lasting five days or so, and since he hadn't really much interest in such matters Shiro had decided to just not participate. They say that its victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance, though to him that was just bullshit for Shiro, since he didn't believe in that garbage.

Whilst he wandered through the forest, idly hoping that he would find something interesting to occupy his attention, the male found himself thinking once more about the last month, where another person had joined this little group which had been forming with him at the centre. 'More people will make hunting Apostles easier, but still... to think that it would turn out like this…'

* * *

**Flashback**

"Ushi, go with them."

True to Jinako's word, both her and Shiro DID come back after meeting with the shinto trinity. They now know what was plaguing their territory, an Apostle was messing with their territory and not just him but the Gods Hand was behind it, spreading their influence. With this knowledge, it had been decided that they were to ally with the Hindu pantheon to stop them from destroying the world.

By the time that this had been decided, the two Hindu natives came back to the village to see it one last time before their journey back to their own territory… and back to the war with the many Apostles. Of course, that turned out to be something that made Ushi glad to meet with them again, but sadly they couldn't stay for long. Mostly due to their mission being over and thus, them being needed back at their own pantheon. Odds were that they wouldn't see each other for a long time, and even then there was no guarantee that they both would remain alive for that long, considering the scale of their opponents.

Of course, being the knowing father that he was, Oishi had seen this saddened expression on his daughter's face before making a decision which stunned her, Jinako and Shiro. Hence why he had said what he did.

After a moment of silence, it turned out that Ushi would manage to regain her voice first, although when she spoke she couldn't help the stutter in her voice. "M-my lord what do you mean?" she questioned dumbly, blinking several times at her father figure whilst also wondering if he was simply toying with her.

Judging by the look on his face though, it didn't seem that way. In fact, it almost seemed like this whole ordeal had transformed her father, as if the knowledge that his future would be as it would be intended after his eventual death had filled him with such confidence and contentment that he didn't feel threatened by anything at all. "I want you to go with Jinako and Shiro." He repeated seriously, holding his sheathe at his side.

"B-but why my lord?" she questioned further… oh, and just for the record, thanks to her being accepted as the daughter of two royal lines, as well as her part to play in stopping Kira from marrying someone whom she considered a sister, Ushi managed to get herself her own set of samurai armour. One with a rather dark theme behind it to signify the darkness which she had grown up in as well as weaponized to adhere to the greater code of honor that Samurai held. (Hunter: essentially she wears her outfit from her stage 3 in Fate Grand Order)

"The reason is simple, I know that you would miss them as your first few friends, so I cannot bear to see you being sad. Then there's the fact that with them, you can also hunt down those infernal Apostles that are spreading around the world." the man explained, frowning at the thought of monsters like Kira roaming around freely. He didn't think that his daughter's talents should be just kept here, and thus if she went with the Hindu diplomats she'd be able to fight on the front lines against the source of the problem at its home territory.

Though, Ushi still felt a bit uncertain about this idea despite her growing desire to go with her new friends to fight the enemy, bringing glory to her line as well as to her father. "Wh-what about you father, I-I can't leave you!" She exclaimed, Shiro and Jinako standing back to let this play out.

Seeing this, Oishi gave a small but affectionate smile as he kneeled down to his daughter's level, the girl having lost feeling in her legs thanks to this situation taking her completely off guard. "It's alright daughter, it's time for you to make your journey and your story."

"I-I-I don't know what to do."

"Ushiwakamaru I'm ordering you to hunt those Apostles from destroying many lives, this is an order from lord Asano's principal counselor and samurai!"

When she heard that tone, flashbacks triggered to when she would hear her father discipline his fellow Samurai in combat, so she shot straight up like a tree trunk and promptly bowed her head in respect with her arms at her side. "?!... yes my lord I will honor it."

Now that his daughter had been convinced, Oishi nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Then go and be safe Ushi…. I'm proud of you despite not being your blood related father for being my loyal retainer all these years. I pray to the gods that you will be safe, I'm sure of it."

"I will… father."

* * *

**Flashback end**

Since then, Jinako quickly bonded with her and got to know each other(Girl talk), something which surprised the white haired male since even his childhood friend had been capable of behaviour similar to this. When he'd questioned Karna about it, his ancestor told him to never question about a woman or else he would get something FAR worse than death, something which Karna had seen before.

Seeing the look on his ancestor's face had convinced Shiro to agree to this, because one time while he was at Mount Meru he was going to check on Brihanna to see if she's getting better, he heard someone talking so when curiosity got to him and he regretted it ever since. He saw… he couldn't even describe it since it would even make a God Hand shiver. He never again wished to question a woman, not after what he saw (SHIVER).

Anyways, in order to prepare herself for the conflicts against the Apostles that she'd be taking part in, Ushi had begun training with one of Shiva's consorts: Kali, the Goddess of Time, Creation, Destruction and Power. It was her that she gained an interest in Ushi as seeing her conviction and loyalty resulted in the Goddess wanting to train her. Her skills were impressive that she inherited some of her ancestors power, This dexterity of combat arts performed to the extremes. Prevents the degradation of fighting skills no matter the kind of circumstances, even if she loses her armaments, Mana Burst (Lightning) Because Gozu Tennou is the incarnation of Taishakuten she possesses the power of the Kitano Tenjin (Raijin) similar to her ancestor. And finally her blade which she was given by her father the Juuchi Yosamu that cut through everything that passed its way, cause that's what a blade is MEANT to do, cutting what lays before it. One time, Kali remarked on how it shared a similar nature to Shiro's Rashomon in that it cuts anything in its path, be it living or dead whilst Rashomon just devours everything, even space. Whilst one time he had managed to see Kali sparring with Ushi. Shiro managed to conclude that her talents were indeed impressive, and that she could be an ideal force of destruction if she continued to grow stronger.

Fortunately for the usually composed and stern avenger, Shiro had luckily been assigned by Vishnu to hunt down an Apostle that they sensed somewhere in transylvania, where he had sensed a flow of casualty there that was impossible to ignore. Therefore, he designed it necessary to send their resident Apostle hating Karna descendent just in time before he could be asked to participate in the festival. Of course, Shiro had quickly accepted and escaped as soon as Paravati wrath appeared before Vishnu, the man soon regretting what he had said.

The boy had been entering the Magic Circle when he had heard Vishnu's screams of pain, making him wonder if even a GOD could survive a woman's wrath.

Women could be scary...

So here he was, walking down the forest alone while trying to find where this flow of casualty was located. He then sees an old styled village there which means that they too still live in the old ways, kinda makes sense if God Hand can spread their influence at a remote area where they can't be sensed by the other gods.

When he entered the place, Shiro found that people simply ignored him at first, going on their way before they saw him walking through the area. The boy didn't care much and ignored them, even as they began to follow him since they hadn't posed any threat just yet. If anything, he felt that they were pathetically weak. However, during the journey Shiro felt like things could turn ugly for him real fast when he spotted them gathering weapons out of the corner of his eye, before he finally arrived at… some sort of fountain place, one which had a person standing before it. Shiro then stopped his stride which signalled that person to speak to him. "Welcome to Transyilvania."

He stood still before he turned around and saw a man with long white hair, wearing old fashion clothes, a badge and a top hat. "What is this a warm welcome?" Shiro questioned, not liking the look of the man from the moment he saw him. The guy just SCREAMED like he would do some shady shit behind the scenes if one were to ask him,

"We don't trust strangers, strangers that won't last longer here."

"I can see that."

"So if you would be so kind, disarm yourself?"

"What makes you think I would let you take my weapons?"

Shiro glares at other people as they step back at the blindfolded person seeing he is a dangerous person. "So you would refuse to obey our laws?"

"Your law means nothing to me."

"Oooohohohoho a feisty one alright… kill him." As the man said when people were getting close to him before Shiro pulled out a massive Spear that anyone has ever seen before. Though, the sight of it quickly compelled them to take a huge step back from him, its form gleaming menacingly in the sunlight. Meanwhile, its user Shiro glared at them with the intent to summon Rashomon in its full beast form, then show them what TRUE terror really was. However before he could do anything, his eyes widened when his senses picked something up, something which was approaching this Village WAY too fast for his liking. He didn't waste time and promptly pinpointed the direction that it came from. 'Above!' the boy thought as he looked up. In contrast to his surprised thoughts, his verbal tone remained laced with nonchalance like his previous anger hadn't been there in the first place. "Well… looks like someone's coming." he said.

As he said this, the man before him blinked his eyes in confusion about his words, as well as the sudden change of moods, before he looked the same way as Shiro did. This resulted in him seeing three figures rapidly closing in on the village from the sunlight, which resulted in him becoming pale with terror as he promptly yelled out to the rest of the villagers. "THEY'RE HERE! EVERYBODY INSIDE!"

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Frantic screams filled the air as the villagers started fleeing to their homes, resembling somewhat headless chickens. Whilst the people scrambled about like some disorganized rabble, Shiro narrowed his eyes allowing him to see the silhouettes until they came into proper focus. They took on the form of three pale figures, looked like females from what he could tell, with pale wings attached to their figures. Looked like they had some sharp claws and fangs too, possibly some commonality with Vampires Shiro figured. It wasn't long before they reached the village and began to fly around it's airspace, scaring and swiping at other people.

'They don't look all that strong… meh, I guess I can take them out.' Shiro thought in boredom, his lack of interest being to do with him not fighting any Apostles. Thus, with this intent in mind, no matter how small and feeble it was, Shiro pulled his Nightingale back while aiming at them, waiting for the perfect opportunity to take one down. Just when one of them latched onto a man and scooped him up into the air, his opportunity finally arrived as Shiro then aimed at her before he shot her shoulder.

"GRAAH!"

A shrill shriek escaped her lipstick-covered mouth as the winged woman dropped the man, holding her wounded shoulder with one clawed hand whilst she looked down at him before scrambling through the air in a similar manner to the Villagers before. She eventually grouped up with one of her companions, the two of them flying to the sky and looming over the village like the monsters that they were. Their collective gazes burned down with fiery anger and hunger as they glared at Shiro who simply looked up at them.

"Marishka, kill the stranger."

"Love to!"

One of them, a black haired woman, snarled at the other who had a more ginger hair colour. Afterwards, they flew around the village, doing pretty much the thing anyone would have expected them to do, which was to cause massive mayhem and madness. All the while they kept on dodging and avoiding his energy arrows, the duo having learned to NOT get hit by them or risk being torn to pieces by their strength. It didn't take long before Shiro grew increasingly annoyed at this though, especially whilst they kept on dodging his attacks like they were some kind of performers at a play. Eventually, out of frustration he shifted his gaze to the right and saw one of the pale women screeching as she flew to him with her claws bared towards him. Instead of running with his tail between his legs or dodging her attack however, Shiro growled. "Enough of this. RASHOMON!"

With a roar that mirrored the Sacred Gear's temperament, Shiro summoned from his coat one of Rashomon's threads, something which caught the pale woman by surprise as she tried to halt herself with a look similar to one of revulsion on her face… as if she had figured out something bad was going to happen. That would soon prove true as the Thread lunged forwards like a living Tentacle, latching around her neck before she could get away in time. Loud shrieks escaped her as she clawed at the thread to try and break it for her getaway, however Shiro wouldn't let that happen nor would Rashomon either. With a quick yank, the woman found herself being pulled by it close to its wielder. Said wielder being Shiro, who had swapped his Bow out for his Kurogane, which he then reared backwards before he stabbed it straight forwards which resulted in it's blade piercing her through her torso.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

"MARISHKA!"

Several cries came from the other two pale women up above as they saw their companion receive such a mortal blow without being able to fight back. Ignoring them for the moment however, Shiro grabbed onto his prey's neck with his free hand in place of Rashomon's thread, which then proceeded to help his right arm push Kurogane further into his opponent. Yet, all the while he kept their gazes at eye level as he held her neck tightly, tight enough to cut off her airflow until the Spear pushed it's blade out through her back. Another wail escaped the woman he'd restrained as Shiro began to see that the pale woman was starting to turn back to her human self. However, this was soon followed by him seeing her clothes being like an entertainer for other people... before the process continued. She kept on gasping for air, as she looked into Shiro's dark, cold eyes, proceeding with screaming near the end as she began turning into sludge before all that was left was her skeleton.

They looked at him with fear before they flew away, one of them almost mournfully wailing a name out which he would identify as the name of the woman he'd killed later.

"MARIshkaaaaaa!"

They screamed as Shiro saw them before he looked at the skeleton which was like a human to him before he saw two long fangs in the front of its teeth which means that they were vampires which Shiro groaned about. "Aaahhh great vampires Vishnu was wrong this time..." he muttered under his breath in annoyance. There wasn't much that could interest him outside of Apostles, nothing else in the supernatural world mattered to him, so seeing this to be the case really brought down the boy's mood and desire to continue this mission.

Whilst Shiro pondered this, he then saw his hat was on the ground, likely having been flung down there when one of those women had flown over his head. Whilst he made to grab it, then put it on his head, civilians began gathering around him as he heard people speak in frantic voices.

"He killed the bride!"

"He killed Marishka!"

They repeatedly chanted this like some kind of forbidden spell's incantation or something, all the while they gathered around the male as Shiro he looked at them around in confusion, an eyebrow arched at their behaviour. "Hey, I just did all of you a favor by killing that vampire." he stated.

However, he would have preferred that the answer came from someone else other than the same man from before, the one who responded to this statement with a sleazy smirk. "Vampires only kill what they need to survive, one or two people a month. Now... they will kill for revenge."

"YYEEEAAHHHH! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!"

They kept on repeating those two words, which really infiltrated Shiro. He growled under his breath as he remembered the last time he felt this furious. That time being back when he had been amongst those of the Band of the Hawk… and ANYTHING which reminded him of those times would not bode well.

Seeing this all around them, the sleazy man smirked deviously, his eyes glazing with malice as he eyed the irritated boy. "So what name, my good sir, do I carve in your gravestone?" he questioned.

Though, in hindsight he should have seen Shiro's response coming, since any normal person would have said something similar if they had the balls to. "Why should I even tell you? Why are you so scared of some measly vampire?" Shiro responded, scoffing derisively. It was safe to assume that he looked down on things that weren't apostles or humans… with Gods being an exception.

"You don't get it do you?" The Sleazy man questioned sarcastically, rolling his eyes at the lack of 'intelligence' that Shiro displayed and looking down on him for it. He should count himself lucky that the boy wasn't in too bad a mood as otherwise that stunt would have earned him a Kurogane to the stomach. "They belong to a vampire lord. They are the second highest to a king in the Tepes Faction of the entire Vampire species, boy. Sooner or later, they will have noticed that you killed one of his brides. When they do, not if, WHEN, they will send in more vampires than you can take on, so count your days boy it will be your la-"

"RRROOOOAAAARRRRR!"

"AAAAHHHHHH!"

Shiro had enough of this, so he once more summoned Rashomon in it's full beast form which then roared out at the man, it's glowing red eyes COMMANDING him to shut his trap. THIS got the reaction he wanted, for the man and the others screamed in fear whilst backing away with some of them even falling to the ground. A few moments later, Rashomon stopped roaring as it returned to Shiro's side, growling at the civilians. "Listen, and you listen well. I don't give a shit about what happens to you, this village or anyone, got it?... So Shut the fuck up and tell me where do these… brides come from…..? Anyone? Fine, I'll look for it myself."

"I-I can help you." As the teen made to go on his little errand (and likely rip out a few hearts in the process), one man came out of the crowd wearing what looked like a hood on some robes. He reminded him of a few scholars that he'd seen a few times back in his Village, Shiro mentally mused as he walked on over to the teen.

Though, his movements didn't look like they were too favoured by the rest of the populace as they looked at him like he was a suicidal idiot. One of them even yelled out. "Carl! What do you think you're doing?!"

However, it didn't seem like he would let that stop him as he instead yelled back. "M-Making the right choice, Eric! We've been terrorized by those vampires for so long now! You say that we can pray for divine intervention, but now not even the church will respond to our plea! No matter how many times we had asked them for help! A-At this point, we should do what the s-saying says: y-you want something done r-right, d-do it yourself!"

That same person who'd yelled before gritted his teeth at this response, a growl escaping his lips that carried no small amount of frustration with this scenario. "Gggrrrrhhhhh, fine! Go get yourself killed Carl, We won't miss you then!"

"G-gladly, I've been meaning to get out of this place for so long, anyways!"

Shiro looked at the man Carl before he titled his head to follow him as they made a leave from the village as they made a path for him before they left the village.

* * *

**Later**

Looked like, for all of his annoying as all hell stuttering, this Carl person seemed to have his own level of competence, since he was guiding Shiro through the forest quite confidently. Shiro had to wonder if that stuttering was simply a habit of his since, well, the guy had the balls to leave that pathetic village full to the brim with cowards. Shiro HATED Cowards with a passion, there were few things he hated more than Apostles and Griffith, but cowardice was one of them. "Thank you so much for coming, you have no idea how long since we received help."

Being shaken out of his thoughts by the man professing his gratitude for coming, Shiro waved him off since he didn't give a shit about this place's problems. He only came here to get away from that damn festival… though even he had some curiosity towards this situation, mostly brought about by the combined influences of Jinako and Ushi who had repeatedly told him to broaden his horizons, saying that it'd increase his combat effectiveness if he kept the bigger picture in the back of his mind. Might as well ask him now, then whilst things were just the two of them. "...Why did you say that stuff about the church? Not like I care, but this sounds like something they would said that you've been sending requests for help to them?"

Glancing behind him, Carl nodded his head as he looked down at the ground, somehow avoiding slamming into a nearby tree whilst he spoke with a low, bitter tone of voice. "We have... for the last 50 years. Yet, none of those requests were answered, and then the only time someone DID come they turned out to be just a low ranking Exorcist that didn't even last a second against them! They don't even respond to us so we had no choice but to let them take one of our people to feed upon!" he raged at the end, and judging by that rage he heard, Shiro felt like there was even more bad blood between this man and the Church than he was letting on.

Still, he knew a desire for vengeance when he'd seen it, and thus simply gave a nod and an "I see….. "... now that he thought about it, sometimes Jinako would compare him to this fantasy guy who spent all his time in armour slaying a bunch of green men. She'd say that they had similar speaking habits, though he didn't see it.

Nothing else was said after this, resulting in the silence taking hold of the atmosphere around them. Whilst the two men continued to walk in silence through the forest, Carl then broke it when he spoke. "You know I'm an inventor, I make stuff like…" Carl then stopped as Shiro looked back at him, the latter having been up in front this whole time, as he began to get something from his bag. This fortunately only lasted a couple seconds, before he pulled out a long cylinder before he pushed a button which then a blade came out."A silver stake. A crucifix." He took out a cross before he put it back in his bag. Looking back at Shiro who regarded him with a neutral stare, a thought occurred to the robe-wearing man. "You know, I get the feeling you have never gone after a vampire, have you?" he questioned.

This prompted Shiro to roll his eyes at his words, a derisive scoff escaping his lips. "They're all the same to me: yokais, devils, monsters are all the same thing." he stated, and he wasn't lying. In his eyes, all his opponents would be seen as prey for his Rashomon, since it was an omnivorous creature which ate pretty much anything. This got further compounded when he heard an agreeing growl in the back of his mind from his Sacred Gear, as if it were a natural thing instead of a fact to reinstate.

Apparently Carl didn't seem to think this was anything good, proof being how he vehemently shook his head like a bull trying to shake off an uninvited passenger. "No no….. Well some are, but not this type of vampire." He began to say, noticing the annoyed look flash into Shiro's eyes. This made him quickly begin to explain, not wanting to have what happened to that Vampire Marishka happen to him too. "A high ranking vampire, also known as a Vampire Lord, is when a vampire reaches an ultimate level by drinking special supernatural blood. Some records have stated that Vampire Lords got their powers by drinking the blood from a mythical beast." he explained.

Though, Shiro didn't see what this had to do with his apparently limited knowledge on 'why' he should care about having never fought a Vampire. "... what makes them so special? They are not that different from other vampires." He questioned slowly, Rashomon growling once again but in irritation this time.

Something which Carl sensed by instinct, if his quivering and faintly flustered expression was anything to go by. "Y-Y-Yes but you see, those brides of his are not like those types of normal vampires. Somewhat inspired by the Norse, they were coined as 'Blood Maidens', and they're the result of a special transformation that any Vampire would LOVE to get in order to rank up as an overlord or a King. In contrast, a Bloodmaiden can only be formed out of female Vampires, and Vampire Lords can only be male." he explained further.

Okay, now Shiro felt SOMEWHAT interested, but less in the fact that apparently these Vampires have something like a Godly Trigger but works differently depending on Genders, and more along the fact of how this guy had even come into possession of such information. From what little he knew of them from his ancestor's teachings, Shiro had found that Vampires were somewhat of a prideful race, more so than even Devils and that said something, so a human with this knowledge would likely have been hunted down till their last breath he would imagine. "How do you even know about this?" he asked the man.

"I read and study them…. Ah this should surprise you." He took out a vial of what Shiro looks like clear water before he carefully made a drop to his finger before he flicked it towards a nearby tree as it exploded. Like what Carl said, Shiro was impressed but only a little bit since it was made by him with no magical power.

"Impressive but I don't need any of them."

"Of course you won't, with your sacred gear Rashomon and your equipment you would definitely kill that vampire in no time….. (GASP) we're here!"

Looking towards the direction Carl pointed, Shiro discovered that they were indeed at their destination, proof being that they were currently approaching a stone keep castle. Shiro could immediately tell this to be a hideout for a Vampire due to the dark, bleak appearance of the place, plus Karna had said that they were an old fashioned lot, sticking to trends from a mix between the victorian and middle ages. Still,he couldn't help but notice something atop one of the keep's towers, causing him to arch a brow. "Why does that tower look so different from the rest? Looks like it had been hastily rebuilt after some kind of explosion…" he questioned the man.

Something which Carl had been more than willing to answer for him, his facial expression that of wonder yet caution mixed together. "They say that a year ago, a resident had been living here, researching something that can revive the dead. But, that didn't last for he had then been discovered by the Vampire Lord and killed him, the man having taken refuge there for these years. Though ever since then, this Vampire Lord never comes out." he explained, generating a bunch of confusion inside Shiro's chest.

"Why is that?"

Carl shook his head, showing that even he didn't know the answer to that question. "I don't know that one, but I have a hunch: Either this vampire wants to revive the dead to do his bidding or wants to get rid of some kind of weakness he has."

"I see…. Alright let's see this….. So called 'Vampire Lord'."

* * *

**Later**

The two men soon reached the entrance into the keep, so when they entered it they walked throughout the various halls in search of clues. As much as Shiro wanted to just go on a rampage and rip apart everything that came into his line of sight, Carl wouldn't have let it happen, reasoning that it would just be an unnecessary hindrance to him. Not like Shiro couldn't have just killed him, the boy felt confident he could kill his 'guide' many times over if he wanted to, but considering that he had been helping him so far, Shiro had decided against the idea for the time being.

Along the way, they came across several small figures walking with electric wires. Something which drew out Shiro's curiosity a little more which prompted him to move on forwards to take a look… something which did not sit well with Carl, the man having grabbed the white haired male then pushed Shiro to the wall. "What are you-?!"

"Dwergi!"

"Dwergi?"

Carl shushed him as he leaned out to see if the coast was clear yet. "The Vampire Lords' servants, spawned by his powers. Industrious, but viscous. If you get the chance to kill a Dwergi, then do so because a Dwergi can do worse to their foes." he explained in a hushed whisper.

So in reality Carl didn't need to do anything, since Shiro would have just killed them at the first sight of aggression they had shown. Perfect. "Uh huh." Shiro drawled, not bothering to hide his voice since he wasn't afraid of these guys.

Whilst in their hiding place, both men heard the dwergi's chattering on in an incoherent language that Shiro couldn't translate for the life of him... before he then decided it wasn't that important. Once the Dwergi were gone, he and Carl continued on their journey, wandering along the path.

Along the way though, Carl bumped into something slimy much to the robed man's chagrin. "Ugh what in the hell did I….bumped…." Carl looked in front of him as he saw a giant green drop with what looks like the outer layer has eggs on it as Shiro also looked in front of him seeing multiple of them with wires attached to them.

Shiro also didn't look too happy to see them, since they reminded him somewhat of the things he'd seen during the Eclipse. "What the fuck are these?" he questioned the man.

Carl however, shook his head negatively whilst leaning closer to the green thing. "I-I don't know... do you?" he questioned back, glancing behind him at his companion.

At this, Shiro snarled, Rashomon growling in warning. "How should I know I never encountered one like these before. What kind of vampire even keeps these here?" he hissed, although he mentally noted how agitated his Sacred Gear grew in such close proximity to these things. That just proved that these things were bad news, and he preferred to listen to his Sacred Gear as well as his instincts on this one.

Turning back to the green… sacs, that was as best as he could describe them now that he looked more closely, Carl examined them thoroughly by looking them up and down. His mouth remained slightly open whilst doing this as the cogs in his brain began to turn, a look of comprehension soon forming on his face. "To keep these trapped in here, connected to all these wires and cables….. Of course now I know! These are the offspring!" he exclaimed, a look of shock and horror filling his being.

A sensation which Shiro began to feel which mixed in with the disgust he felt inside too, Rashomon's trepidation making a whole new LEAGUE of sense as he looked at the thing before him. "... what… offspring?" he questioned slowly. He did NOT like the sound of that.

"Yes, for you see there is a reason some Vampires won't turn into a Vampire Lord despite wanting to get a better rank in their society. It is very rare, so rare for one of them to have children that are born alive due to these guys being closer to the saying 'living dead'. It's only natural that their children were born dead. Normal vampires are able to have children, but for Vampire Lords, it's almost impossible. Therefore, I'm guessing that he is trying to find a way to revive them, because if he does..."

"Then we would have bigger problems here than I'd expected. Check that out..." Shiro declared as he pointed in a certain direction. Carl looked up and saw so many of these offspring that there could be thousands of them causing him to turn pale. He could understand the sentiment, even he himself felt like he had lost a little skin color at this. Shiro could only IMAGINE the level of shit that would happen if they were to be revived, especially if by using the powers of common sense, a Vampire Lord's children would be MUCH stronger than the average Vampire. It COULD be possible that a Vampire Lord's children would also be as such but from birth, something which would only add to their already massive egos. Seeing all this shit, Shiro seriously started considering using the Brahmastra to blow this entire keep to kingdom come, but had to hold it in. Mostly because after seeing the results back in that castle, he had to only use it for his trump card or if he had no choice.

Whilst they stood there, both men gulped when they heard a heartbeat bump nearby them as they looked at the one that is bumping a heart. A small bead of sweat formed on his forehead as Shiro went on over to it, digging into the sack to see what lay inside… a mutant baby bat that almost looked like a human. Eyeing it for a moment, Shiro hummed in thought whilst a tense silence filled the air. "Huh…. this what you get for having sex with that type of Vampire..."

A short moment passed before suddenly, the 'bat's eyes shot wide open, electing startled sounds from Shiro and Carl whilst they stepped back as it screeched.

SSSSCCRRREEEEEE!

Shiro promptly stabbed through its face with a claw from Rashomon, retracting it into his Coat afterwards. However, their problems didn't end there, for it was then that electricity began to go to each offspring's sack through the many cables, resulting in many of them starting to thump like they were living hearts. 'Oh fuck, that's not good! Looks like a bunch of these fuckers are going to wake up!' Shiro thought to himself, gritting his teeth as he glanced behind him at his human escort. "Alright you, get the hell out of here!" he yelled.

Much to the man's shock of course as he quickly asked in worry for Shiro's wellbeing. "W-what about you?!"

Shiro however, didn't need such things right now, he found himself too busy pondering on which weapon to use against the incoming threat. "I'll live, this is nothing! Now, go or else you would be nothing but a husk!" he yelled further, as if there was one thing which he knew for certain it would be that he couldn't fight AND protect the lone human at the same time. Thus, if he stayed here then he would likely become these guys' human blood bank or something… if it were anyone else other than his comrades, then Shiro wouldn't have given a flying fuck. But despite his habits, the guy hadn't done any harm to him and had been civil enough, so this would be the extent of his mercy to him.

Good thing this guy had the sense to understand his point there, proof being how he shakingly nodded his head in response to his words. "G-good luck then, find me at the broken lighthouse if you survive!" He yelled, quickly running off before Shiro could give his response.

He wouldn't have heard it anyways though, cause the boy simply chuckled darkly as he grinned in a similar manner, his eyes shining with building bloodlust as this trip, to him, started to get a BIT more entertaining. "Oh, I always will survive no matter what." he mused under a whisper.

Once he had confirmed that he was alone, Shiro promptly began to spring into action. He did so by taking out his Nightingale before he repeatedly pulled back the Bowstring and pretty much launched a rainstorm of Energy Arrows all over the place, JUST as each of the 'sacks' burst open with the baby bats coming out to play. As result, they began to explode into gory chunks thanks to the divine essence behind his Arrows, as well as those who survived the first hit exploding like human bombs from the leftover energies in their systems. 'Ugh, that looks just fucking disgusting…' Shiro couldn't help but think as he beheld this spectacle… though he just wished he didn't.

Whilst he did so, he managed to shoot about 40 of them before his senses registered another presence nearby. One which DWARFED the previous Vampires he had fought (Bloodmaidens, he remembered them being called according to Carl) in terms of scale and presence. Turning to the source and indirectly allowing the bats to escape into the outside (likely going to terrorize that damn Village), Shiro then saw someone up atop a ledge before it snarled at him. Shiro remained calm however, swapping out his Nightingale for Kurogane in preparation. "So you must be the so-called 'Vampire Lord'... pft, you don't look too tough to me." he stated with a derisive scoff, twirling his Spear around in one hand.

HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

In response, the Vampire Lord hissed like a snake down at him. He then jumped off the rail before he began to turn into… what could best be described as a hideous monster with teeth as long as a human middle finger, wings as big as two persons with bat hooks on them, and ears that were long. Furthermore, it had a slight pinkish red radiant to it's skin, though the teen didn't care as the vampire began to swoop down low at him like a falcon.

To combat the imminent threat, Shiro reared Kurogane back and dodged the first swipe to his head launched by the Vampire Lord's right claw, before he then swung upwards and carved a gash through him. Not deep enough to kill, but enough to get the thing's attention. However, it also succeeded in lowering his foe's altitude, as he fell down to the ground before him. The Vampire Lord started to up, glaring heatedly at Shiro with a fury only a parent could make before the vampire sped up to him, grabbing onto Shiro's neck before he could react. A sharp gasp escaped him as Shiro got slammed into a wall, pinned there whilst being held by his neck. In order to finish him off, the Vampire Lord tried to get close to Shiro by leaning towards his neck, not like the teen made it easy for him though as he gripped the hand on his neck with his free one, putting his Spear's shaft in between the Vampire Lord's lunges for his jugular.

Finally, Shiro had enough and decided to take things up a notch. After blocking one particularly close lunge to his neck, Shiro summoned some of his Divine Energy and put it into his free hand. He then grabbed onto the wrist of the hand holding his neck and dug his nails deep into the hand's pressure points, causing the enemy to hiss in irritation and forcing them to let go of his jugular. Throwing him back and landing on his two feet once more, Shiro wasted no time in relishing being on solid floor and instead lunged forwards, calling out the name of quite possibly his favourite weapon in his Arsenal. "RASHOMON!"

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

"AAAAAARRGGGHHHHHH!"

Once he called upon his Sacred Gear, it answered with a furious roar. Rashomon manifested in full Beast form, opening its jaws and biting down onto the vampire's neck as a form of retribution, digging its jaws deep into its flesh with relentless tenacity and almost fiendish fervor. Worked like a charm, it seemed, for the Vampire Lord howled in extreme pain when he tried to get Rashomon out of him by grabbing onto its snout. However, that didn't work out at all since Rashomon wasn't letting go, not one bit. Eventually, Shiro sent it a mental command telling it to let go of the vampire, resulting in Rashomon tossing the creature onto his back. This action also had the secondary effect of ripping a good chunk of flesh, muscle and bone from the creature's shoulder

Holding his neck in pain, the Vampire Lord promptly riveted his transformation back to his human self. In his human form, Shiro found that the Vampire Lord looked like a man in his mid twenties, with black hair that was tied back into a short ponytail as well as two strands going down each side of his face, one for each side. He also had brownish green eyes, eyes which currently glowed bright enough that he could see their fox-like clothing seemed to consist of that which had been prevalent during the 1400's, if Shiro had to guess, with a long black coat and pants, with matching boots. Underneath the coat, he could see some form of shirt, though Shiro wasn't completely sure which.

Ending his examination, the male noticed how the Vampire Lord looked at Shiro with a gaze filled with NOTHING but anger... and a little bit of fear mixed in. "How can this be?!" He yelled in a rage, gripping his shoulder which had a hole in it. Looked like it was rapidly healing though, but judging by the look on the man's face, he didn't seem too focused on that right now. "Nothing could hurt me! What type of sacred gear do you use, human?!"

"Nothing could hurt you, vampire?" Shiro questioned, before a mocking scoff left his lips as he pocketed his free hand in his Tailcoat, twirling Kurogane around like a wheel with his weapon hand. "Hah! that's a laugh. If you are so invincible how come you're wounded? If you ask me, I'd say it's obvious that you have never been dealt with in this way." Shiro snarled, stepping towards him. When he was close enough, Shiro raised his right leg and stomped viciously onto the Vampire Lord's chest. He almost revealed in the sounds of pain and discomfort that the Vampire Lord made whilst grabbing onto his foot to try and remove it. Though, the foot merely pressed tighter, threatening to smash right through the Vampire Lord's ribcage which caused him to constantly gasp for breath.

This obviously didn't go down too well with the Vampire Lord before him, for he screeched at him with a voice that sounded like it belonged to a dead man walking, pun not intended. "You! Do you know who I am?! I am Vladislaus Dragulia, a descendent of the original vampire Dracula. You will show me respect human!" he yelled at the end.

Though, the white haired male looked like he just didn't give a shit, which was the correct assumption. Part of him felt annoyed at how this guy had been built up by Carl to be a badass, only to be foiled so easily by his own arsenal, but he guessed that either this guy had underestimated him as a lot of arrogant asses tended to do, or he could possibly only have become his current self recently. He'd be willing to bet on the arrogance side though. "Oh, you will be shown respect when you turn into dust, vampire." Shiro snarled agan, raising his Kurogane for the finishing blow.

Just when he was about to impale Dracula's descendent however, Shiro's gaze sharply turned to the side when he suddenly sensed something coming his way. 'Ambush!' that sole thought raced through his mind as Shiro quickly acted against this new phenomenon, blocking it with his Kurogane.

As such, the male known as Shiro looked to see what he had defended himself after lowering his weapon, and to his surprise, he saw that it was an undead zombie-like motherfucker, he could tell it's true nature because of its rotten skin as it used it's teeth to try and bite down, chew through his weapon in order to get at his jugular. However, this didn't work out too well for it, so Shiro slashed it's head off after lightly throwing it back via a jerk of his Kurogane's shaft.

However, this allowed Shiro to look up and see more of them nearby, a full hoard's worth with each of them looking like they were one step away from going on a bloody rampage… somewhat like what he felt inside all the damn time. Whilst this happened, the Vampire Lord managed to escape Shiro's foot, stumble to his feet before running to the side, yelling out the following words. "Davernoch! What was taking you so long?!"

Afterwards, a figure came from the shadows as he hid his appearance behind a red robe that covered his body but Shiro can see that his face looks undead to him. "If you didn't notice I have been almost successful with the experiment, I was close but had to stop it before you could die. if you do, then the whole thing would be ruined."

The way that the figure seemed to gaze at the Vampire Lord known as Vladislaus, really rubbed his pride the wrong way… though, considering that he had just had the stuffing beaten out of him as well as how his wound was still healing, that was pretty understandable. Vladislaus looked like he even wanted to kill the guy who had just saved his skin just to form some form of pride, but he wisely chose against it since he still needed him for his plans. As a result he let out another sound that sounded like a mix between a grunt and a hiss. "Ggrrhhh fine, but get rid of this pest!" he declared venomously, pointing his clawed left hand at him.

Looking at Shiro, the figure's gaze seemed to rise in it's intensity, and the said boy could have SWORN that an eager hum escaped the figure's lips whilst Shiro got the sensation of REALLY wanting to get away from this figure. He believed him to be some kind of Necromancer given how he controlled all these undead seemingly, a fact he'd concluded based on how these things reacted to him, so perhaps THAT could be it. Shiro wanted to rip this guy apart himself, though. "Gladly, Vladislaus."

That said, Davernoch then waved his skeleton hand at Shiro, who then got into stance as the undead began to run at him. 'Alright, a round of fodder enemies it is, then…' the boy mentall drawled, not feeling much of a threat from these creatures whilst Rashomon retracted into himself, then came back out in the form of many long threads, their tips sharp enough for stabbing. The boy planned on having his Sacred Gear launch it's offensive first, take out the first wave of these guys before he'd use the brief opening to throw Kurogane at the Necromancer. It'd go into it's Jaw Mode in mid travel, then bite the guy's head clean off if he couldn't react in time, and if he did then Shiro would tackle him to the ground before impaling his vitals to finish him off that way.

However, the moment he made his move, Shiro noticed something behind the wave of undead… an even BIGGER wave of them, mixed in with those Dwergi that his human Guide had told him would be dangerous. This caused him to snarl, since he began to suspect their true aim to be something else instead of outright killing him.

But, before he could think of that and after killing the first wave of undead with Rashomon's threads, a female voice got heard in the distance. "OVER HERE!" The two men plus Shiro turned left in order to see who it was, and when they did each of them bore witness to a young-looking woman who looked somewhat like a female buddha monk. Her apparel consisted of a strange hat, her robes covering her except a portion of her breasts, large beads on her neck and was holding a shakujō. When Shiro didn't respond, she yelled again in a more urgent voice. "HURRY!"

At this, Shiro looked at her for a moment, turning back to the approaching undead horde which had SWELLED in numbers... before deciding to heed the woman's advice. He did so by using his Rashomon Threads to impale the ground around him, launching himself up into the air before landing beside her in a crouching position. Seeing this and knowing what the two intended to do next, the Vampire Lord pointed at them and yelled the following words. "GET HIM, HE MUST NOT LIIIIIVVVVVEEEEEE!"

Thus, the undead armies quickly moved to chase the two as they ran throughout the Keep in their goal of escaping this place. This turn of events proved to annoy Shiro though, to the point where he then gritted his teeth in frustration. Behind them, he sensed several undead closing in on their asses so he summoned several Rashomon threads to hack away pieces of dirt and tall structures, knocking them down to the ground and blocking their way a bit. It didn't stop them, but it indeed slowed the undead down a bit, so whilst this happened he turned his head to the right and spoke to the unknown woman. "What was the deal back there? I could've handled it all of them." he questioned, scowling.

Something which the woman returned tenfold whilst her eyes showed an intense annoyance which fared quite well against his own. "First of all, a thank you is needed…" she began, making Shiro mentally roll his eyes… as well as physically. "...and second, even if you did kill all those undead, that Vampire Lord and that Necromancer would have just used the opportunity to get away so they could have put some kind of finishing blow on you, since you in your hot-headedness would have chased them down whilst still being exhausted from the battle." she explained while going up some stairs.

Shiro narrowed his eyes into slits, a dark grrowl escaping his lips afterwards. As much as he wanted to refute that claim she'd made, he couldn't. She wasn't wrong after all since he could very well imagine that happening, though he REALLY wanted to know how the hell she had known that about him. Though, considering that now wasn't the time for questions, he couldn't really satisfy the inner frustration he felt inside. "Gggrrrhhhh I hate it when your right, woman." he said through his growls.

A while of running followed the end of this conversation, until the duo finally arrived at the roof where the equipment for lighting was located. Both of them searched around for an exit, before their gaze fell upon the sight of a hill opposite the keep. Behind them, they could hear the undead army nearing their position in their large numbers, causing the woman to bite her lower lip in frustration. "Crap we're trapped." she muttered under her breath as she shifted her head from side to side to see if there was an alternative solution. After all, she had ZERO intentions of dying today.

On the other hand, her companion had the complete opposite reaction to this dilemma… although he didn't really see it as much of a dilemma in the first place. "Maybe in your case, but not for mine." Shiro responded, prompting her to look at him with a heated gaze whilst her eyes pretty much asked the unasked question of his meaning. However, instead of answering, the male then put his middle and index fingers into his mouth, before proceeding to whistle in a loud tone. He then followed it up with running to the ledge before the woman could stop him.

"WAIT WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

When he heard her words, Shiro heard her just before he could jump, the boy looked behind him at her with a slightly knowing glint in his eye. "You'll see." was all he said, being as vague as he possibly could just so he could vent some frustration. Shiro then jumped from the ledge before the woman yelled.

"NO!"

She ran to the ledge and saw that Shiro was not there before she was confused before a majestic horse appeared in front of her as Shiro was riding it. "What are you waiting for? Grab on." he told her, glancing behind them at the path they had travelled. Looked like they had about 20 seconds before the undead caught up to and overran this area, so they needed to move NOW. This in mind, Shiro put out a hand to the woman, who looked at it for a couple seconds before reaching out and grabbing it. She then used it to vault herself up into the air and then land behind him. This done, Shiro commanded his horse, Blackjack, to ride away from the castle…

Leaving behind both an undead army AND a furious, humiliated and damaged Vampire Lord.

* * *

**Later**

Up in the dark skies above, Shiro and the woman rode the flying horse above the forest below them,immersed in the silent atmosphere that had taken over the hectic one they had been in previously. For a while, nothing had been spoken between the two, since they'd just escaped a rather risky situation so they wanted to use the silence to take their minds off things.

That is, until the woman raised her head then tilted it as she looked forwards towards her riding companion. "What's your name, by the way? It can't possibly be 'suicidal idiot' cause something tells me you're not that type of person." she questioned him, frowning.

For a moment, Shiro debated on whether or not he should answer her, since she DID stop him from ripping that undead army to pieces and all. However, on the plus side she had also stopped those two from dealing a significant blow to him that he would have had to take a while to recover from, and in that scenario he didn't know if he could have escaped that undead army. Therefore, he felt a little bit of gratitude towards this woman, since because of her actions Shiro had not only evaded that scenario, but he also had gotten out of it with minimal injuries meaning that he could go back whenever he so chose… and unlike what he had been bragging about, Shiro wanted more information about what was going on here, mostly because if this situation escalated as it could potentially do, then his companions would have his hide as well as the Hindu Pantheon. Ugh, he hated politics and factions."... Shiro Ravi. You?" he eventually responded with, glancing behind him at her with only his left eye.

"My name is Xuanzang Sanzang, descendent of the original teacher of Sun Wukong." The woman introduced herself after a couple seconds, having nodded her head in acknowledgement of his name earlier. When she introduced herself she also placed her left hand on her chest as well, though the descendent of Karna didn't put very much attention, if any at all, on that matter.. Something which she noticed.

On the other hand, as he mused over her introduction, Shiro's eye widened slightly as he turned his head a bit more so he could look at her better. He then spoke with a surprised and confused tone of voice, obviously not having expected this. "Sun Wukong?... you mean the short monkey that was with Indra?" he questioned, remembering a few times when he'd seen a monkey like creature with the Hindu God. They looked like they had known each other for a while, but he hadn't really paid that much attention at those times since he'd been mostly focused on his training to fight the many Apostles in the world. However, Sun Wukong belonged to the Chinese pantheon, didn't he? So why would someone from that faction be in transylvania? That was something that he had indeed realized and had been promptly confused about. Shiro may be a simple man, but that didn't mean he was a stupid idiot.

"Yes…" Xuangzang replied, nodding her head once more before something about his earlier intro clicked in her mind as well. She then leaned forwards slightly whilst keeping her gaze locked with his, a curious glimmer being visible within them. "Wait, are you what they call Karna's descendent? The berserker?" she questioned curiously.

At this, Shiro arched a brow. Berserker? He had that kind of title? He didn't know that, but considering what he liked to do and how he tended to fight, the male actually found that title to be quite fitting for him. He didn't mind it, in fact he kind of liked it. "Yes you can say that Xuanzang, what is your relation with the monkey?" he questioned back.

Fortunately, Xuangzang looked to be in the divulgatory mood, since she soon answered his question whilst contemplating this information in her head. "He is my mentor, and a while ago he spoke about how apparently Indra is trying to have his son's descendent be awakened by any means. According to him, you did indeed rescue Ganesha's daughter, Indra wanted to use the same solution but was stopped by his son, the original Arjuna. He told him that her trauma might be so great due to the Eclipse that it's risky so they can't take any action as of right now." she explained grimly.

Her words came onto him like huge, merciless weights onto Shiro's shoulders, making his eyes go wide and his skin color to pale slightly. His mouth fell open as the words fully registered themselves to him before he finally broke their deadlock and looked down, gritting his teeth in deep frustration. "I see…. Dammit." He mumbled, furious at this information. Essentially what this meant was that he was back to square one revolving around waking up Brihanna. Worse still, it sounded like things were even worse than what he had initially realized for her… which only served to make him hate the God Hand all the more for denying his childhood friend the chance at happiness she could have had achieving her and Jamal's dream. However, a moment made him realize something else which caused him to turn his head completely towards her. "Wait, you know about the Eclipse?!" He exclaimed in a hushed whisper, before something clicked in his mind. "Then, does that mean…?" he began to say, before trailing off at the end.

Though, he didn't really need to finish himself since Xuangzang nodded her head, already knowing what he had wanted to say. Her eyes flashed with a sinister darkness to them as she responded. "Yes, I know of the Apostles Shiro... I am hunting one pasific Apostle..." she began to explain, trailing off and looking towards the side in a diagonal manner. The way she bit her lip hard enough that it began drawing blood combined with the gaze she had on her, it told Shiro all he needed to know about her.

"...Avenger."

"Huh?"

"You're an Avenger… just like me." Shiro explained, elaborating on what he said before. "Like me, these Apostles took something from you too, it seems… then that makes you all the more trustworthy in my books." Shiro finally stated as a sigh escaped his lips. "I respect the desire for vengeance, to me it shows that people place value in getting back at those who take away from them…" he explained, frowning before he shook his head. "In any case, once we get to safety and kill that vampire and that Necromancer, let's go find that Apostle. Vishnu assigned me to this area so I could hunt down an Apostle that was causing a flow of casualty, but I ended up at the wrong place. Anyways, since that Vampire Lord will likely be unleashing his Spawn onto the world, it'd be way too annoying to deal with that so we have no choice but to kill him and his spawn before they escape into the world."

"Right, and you have any idea where we can start?"

"... I have an idea, yes. Just hope you can handle some stuttering."

* * *

**Later**

After landing and dismissing Blackjack, Shiro and Xuanzang walked through the rest of the forest (as well as amidst the rain that began pouring down during the journey which had been the reason for the landing). Their destination: a destroyed lighthouse which Shiro had remembered Carl saying he would be meeting him.

Upon reaching there, both of them walked up and spotted Carl sitting on the destroyed wood. The sounds of their footsteps caused him to raise his head, allowing him to notice the approaching Shiro and Xuanzang. Seeing their forms, or rather Shiro's and the lack of true injuries, his gaze perked up whilst he ran up to them. "Thank god you're still alive, have you killed the vampire?" he questioned hopefully.

Shiro however, knew he had to dash the man's hopes since the alternative left a bitter taste in his mouth. "... I almost did, but then a damn fucking necromancer showed up. Not only did he stop me from killing that damn abomination, but summoned a damn undead army onto my ass. We…" He paused, gesturing to himself and their newest companion Xuanzang before continuing. "...had to escape before they could overwhelm and kill us, or worse." Not like he would have made it easy for them, but yeah.

Carl however, looked exactly like what Shiro had suspected he would when telling him this news: like someone whose crush had rejected them for another who had more wealth and physical appeal than he did. "Oh…. that's not good, not good at all." He muttered, cupping his chin as he began to stutter out various scenarios. Something which Xuanzang and Shiro shared a look between each other since the latter had already told her about the man's habit. Eventually, he raised his head to look back up to the two kids. "If they are working together then that means he's responsible for making his children live!" he shouted.

Xuanzang's eyes widened, this being the first time she had heard about this whilst she turned her head to her fellow supernaturally empowered companion. "Children?" she questioned, although Shiro wasn't the one who answered her.

Nope, THAT honor went to the stuttering man as he proceeded to tell her everything they'd seen when they'd gone to the keep. "Oh haven't noticed you there miss, you see we discovered the vampire's hideout…"

* * *

"Damn that boy, if he wasn't here then my children would've feast their blood!"

"Give it a rest Vlad, what can one boy make you fear him?"

Back at the Keep, the Vampire Lord Vladislaus and the Necromancer Davernoch stood in the Vampire's main resting quarters, which looked mostly like a dark stone room with a lack of light. A perfect home for a Vampire Lord such as himself… although, the Necromancer looked like he wasn't too bothered by the lack of light either. Still however, all wasn't 100% well right now thanks to the fact that the wounds caused by Shiro's Rashomon had yet to be healed completely by the Vampire Lord's healing capabilities.

"Because of his unnatural sacred gear that I had never seen before, it managed to stop my regeneration. I can still feel the pain from it!" Vladislaus retorted hotly, hissing whilst gritting his teeth, a clawed hand over his wound. He didn't understand what was happening here, ever since he had been a boy he had heard tales of the power this state had, and one of the first EVER Vampire Lord's, his ancestor Vlad the Impaler, had so much power that everyone in the supernatural world feared him. He had thought that this state which he managed to get himself into about 300 years ago was supposed to be the pinnacle for Vampires, like the true forms of those damn bats had the capability to awaken.

However, this situation showed him something that he had never even CONSIDERED before: A possible WEAKNESS to the Vampire Lord state.

This also seemed to somewhat cause a confused hum to escape the Necromancer's lips as he pondered on why this was happening. From what Vladislaus had told him, it seemed as though this Sacred Gear manifested as a black beast similar to a canine, one which could attack and defend in equal measure. 'Hmmm… canine… there might be a possible explanation, and if my hunch is right…' Daversnoch thought to himself, before he opened his mouth to speak once more. "What's stopping you from unleashing your children into the world? You know that you can rule the world since you're immune to all vampires' weaknesses except sunlight?" he questioned.

This question drew another irritated hiss out from the Vampire Lord as Vladislaus turned on his companion. "Because that boy wounded me, you dolt! You linked my life to the children so that they could live. Therefore, if he managed to kill me then this whole thing will be nothing but rot!" he yelled at the end, before hissing once more when the pain from his wound acted up.

Daversnoch snorted at his words, crossing his arms under his chest. So, it was parental concern, then? For a Vampire Lord whose race was known for their almost insatiable ego that it surpassed that of Devils, that sounded almost heretical if he were to use something those blind idiots at the Church liked to throw around without understanding what it really meant. "Maybe you were too arrogant? In your confidence that you could finish him without using all of your powers, that is..."

"... your right my friend, I was indeed too arrogant…" Vladislaus eventually admitted, grimacing as the truth forced itself into his thoughts. Looking back on it, he had to force himself to acknowledge the strength that this human possessed. When he had been attacking him, he had sensed but ignored the signs of divinity coming from him since they were quite minor. But now, he began to believe that they were the signs of that human being a long term descendent of a God or something. Whilst nothing compared to Demigods, a Descendent of one still had more power than any human could ever hope to have. One more hiss escaped his lips as Vladislaus finally started to compose himself again, straightening out his coat and resuming a regal posture. "But that doesn't mean that boy will stop me from achieving my ambitions. The next time I see him, I will unleash all of my power."

"When you kill him, be sure to keep his corpse. I suspect that he would make a fine soldier for my ranks. Now if you'll excuse me I will continue with the experiment, it will only take a day before we finally succeed."

* * *

**Later**

"This is something we have to do, that vampire cannot live."

Still outside the lighthouse, Shiro, Xuanzang and Carl walked together away from it, discussing possible ways to track down and kill the Vampire Lord Vladislaus and his Necromancer companion, Daversnoch. From what she had been told by the two with Shiro confirming the lone pure human's words, she figured this to be way more dangerous than she had initially thought. If this wasn't stopped soon, she could only imagine the kind of horrors that would befall this region, what had been going on at that village would only have been a mere glimpse at what would have happened.

Carl nodded his head in grim agreement, walking behind the two since he was the sole member of their little trio who didn't possess any powers. If he were to come with them, and they knew he would and both believed that he wouldn't back down no matter what they would say, then he would need to stay behind them in order to not get absolutely mauled. "Yes if only the church was able to heed our request instead of just ignoring it. I'm beginning to think that they're corrupted and we need to hurry before he unleashes those things to the world." he remarked, a scathing tone in his voice.

Shiro however, had been of the mind to just immediately head back to the cave and perform an, as ironic as it sounded, purging of the whole place. If worse came to worse he even felt like smashing the whole place to nothingness with a Brahamastra might be the ideal option, since the destruction it would cause would ensure that it would destroy the keep. "Then we must go back there, we are wasting time," he urged.

However, their female companion had other ideas as she reached out and grasped onto the white haired male's shoulder. "Hold on Shiro, first we need a plan on how we can deal with the necromancer and his undead." She firmly told him.

Gritting his teeth at this, Shiro huffed whilst shrugging his shoulder free. He then turned to face her once again, hissing out the following words. "Then what should we do about this, woman? That Vampire Lord, from my understanding of his mannerisms, will not waste any time unleashing his Spawn." he exclaimed, and he wasn't wrong. Just through fighting him, Shiro had managed to get a good idea as to what his personality was like… and it wasn't good.

Just as frustrated as her companion however, Xuanzang shook her head whilst internally trying to come up with a plan. "I know that Shiro, but we can't take any chances if they have somethi-"

It was then that, before she could finish her sentence, cracks got heard beneath them, prompting the trio to look down towards the ground they stood on. Not a second later however, did the ground collapse in on itself, revealing a large hole as they fell down into it.

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"GGGAAAAHHHHH OOOF!"

As the only one who had managed to avoid this little scenario, Carl ran to the hole as he kneeled beside it's edge, looking down into its depths whilst using the moonlight to try and see where the two had fallen. "Hey, you two okay there?" he exclaimed, hoping that they could hear him.

The first one to answer him, much to his relief since it confirmed that they were still alive, turned out to be Xuanzang. "Uuuhhhh yeah I'm fine Carl but where is Shiro?" the girl groaned as her head spun around. By the time she regained her clarity and movement however, she looked around and noticed to her surprise that she could find no sign of her impulsive, almost bloodthirsty comrade in this endeavor.

"I don't know-wait….. maybe you should look down."

"Look down? What do you mean-"

"Hhhhmmmmmm!"

A low humming sound, similar to a vibrating sound, echoed beneath her as she felt something try to move under her. Curious and mildly surprised, Xuanzang looked down and saw that she was sitting on top of Shiro's head, his face buried in the ground as she quickly got off of him and he gasped for air. "(GASP) what….. the fuck was holding me down?! it's like a ton of bricks was on me!"

"Hmm? What was that Shiro?"

All of a sudden, a BUNCH of bloodlust erupted from the lone woman of the group as Shiro looked up, finding Xuanzang to be pleasantly smiling at him… with shadows darkening her eyes and a bunch of veins appearing over her face. He swore he saw the image of the grim reaper floating behind her as well, causing him to gulp and release a bead of sweat. Memories of what he had heard from Vishnu before coming here played themselves through his mind, causing him to quickly think up and say something that would stop the impending destruction that would follow. "... nothing I didn't say anything." he stated… and he would never admit it, but perhaps he had almost meeped at the sheer anger that the woman had displayed.

"That's what I thought." The said woman declared, looking around and dispersing pretty much all signs of her being angry like they had never been there in the first place. Shiro, as he got up, heaved a sigh of relief, feeling for the first time like he had MUCH more understanding of why some people in the Hindu pantheon called the men with wives 'whipped'. If they could do stuff without being given those looks, then he had NO doubt they'd do it. "Anyways, where are we?" Xuanzang then asked.

"I don't know but whatever it is, doesn't seem like we're alone down here." Shiro said as he looked at the pile of bones near their position. Judging from their state, it looked like they were the remains of what seemed to have been some Animals… as well as a couple humans, but that didn't really affect him. As someone who had seen the Eclipse, little could truly surprise him.

To make sure they couldn't be taken off guard, Shiro pulled out his Kurogane while Xuanzang took out her weapon: a staff topped with metal rings. Upon noticing her weapon, Shiro assumed that she had been versed in Magic of some sort, which meant that she would likely be a ranged fighter instead of close quarters combat like himself, Jinako and Ushi. 'Hmmm… well, I guess I can reinforce her with Rashomon's versatility, and if anyone tries to get past I can stab them or something with Kurogane. Also, for a full on ranged offensive, my Nightingale Bow will more than suffice whilst Rashomon can act as our defence.' The male thought to himself, mind whirring with possibilities about their potential options on the battlefield.

Up on the surface, Carl yelled down to them. "Can you two find a way up the place?"

Xuanzang yelled back up whilst not taking her gaze off their surroundings, the same being said for Shiro too. Said male's Rashomon currently growling out in warning that there was danger near them. "Yes, but hold on Carl, there is something here so stay put and we'll be there!"

"Alright, be safe!"

Following those words, the duo walked through the cave they looked left and right before Rashomon growled a bit louder, alerting Shiro as he sensed something before he turned to the right. Upon doing so, his eyes widened and his mouth fell slightly open… when he saw a pair of glowing crimson eyes bearing down on him through the darkness, eyes which resembled more like the pits of hell themselves whilst blazing like two burning flames. They belonged to a creature that looked to be wearing darkness as if it were a cloak: sporting black scales, black fur and, giving it the look and style of a predatory black panther. Its dark, feral appearance suggested, it may have mainly been a nocturnal predator, although this didn't distract Shiro from the bat-like wings which protruded from its arms, or the Spikes covering it's long tail that had a sharpened tip for stabbing.

As it slowly approached them, Shiro whispered to his companion Xuanzang under his breath. "Well, I think we just found what's living here."

She turned her head in his direction, not having spotted the creature yet as it started to move slightly faster. "Wait how do you know?" she questioned.

Shiro however, noticed that the creature had begun to prepare for a pounce, his teeth gnashing together knowing that they only had a couple seconds left. "Because it's standing right behind you, move!"

His yell signalled the beginning of a flurry of following events, as the beast jumped over towards Xuanzang, it's eyes almost creating trails that followed it's movements whilst it intended to pin her down and then chow down on her flesh. That is, before Shiro pulled her out of its way to which she almost fell onto her backside but she managed to balance herself in time.

Over on his side of things, Shiro managed to hold his Kurogane out with his hand, an action which resulted in it getting caught by the beast's teeth. Grunting, Shiro tried to push it back which didn't work, showcasing the level of strength this creature had, before he pushed it to the side instead. The creature fell to that side first, rolling across the ground before it got up again. However, when it did so, it's right eye twitched as a low grunt escaped it, prompting Shiro and Xuanzang to look at it for a few seconds, before they realized it was in pain.

"It's….. in pain."

"Looks like it. Whatever this thing is, almost looks like a vampire."

It was then it screamed loud at them when Shiro said vampire seemingly with almost hatred as Shiro can see in it before he went towards it.

Not something which Xuanzang approved of as she made to reach out for him with her free hand. "Wait Shiro!"

However, she failed to stop him before he was right before the beast. He kneeled on one leg so that they were of a better eye level, before examining the fiery gaze that it had. "So….. you hate the word Vampire, huh? Which would mean….. You hate the Descendent of dracula." he remarked thoughtfully.

Something which he confirmed moments later when the beast growled at him, but slowly nodded its head. Looking into it's blazing eyes for a while and seeing something that he had been searching for, Shiro then thought of something for a moment. After a short few instances, he clicked his index and thumb when he got an idea. "Well then, I just got an idea that would benefit all of us, if you agree to it. You can help us kill that damn Vampire Lord, and in exchange that you will not attack us, got it?"

Upon hearing these words, the beast's eyes widened at the offer that Shiro had given it, the boy having rightly assumed this thing to be an intelligent creature to the point of understanding him just from body language. After it pondered a bit, the beast eventually nodded its head with both acceptance and caution, something which the boy respected just as much as he did revenge. He knew those eyes, he saw them in the mirror every day, so he believed that he had earned it's trust for the time being, but not it's COMPLETE trust. Avengers like him, Jinako, Ushi although she may as well be a former Avenger at this point, and now this one before him, they didn't trust too easily since they had been betrayed, and lost everything as a result.

To that end though, it would seem like the injuries this beast had needed to be addressed first, so they could get their revenge together. Therefore, Shiro then put his hand on the Beast's forehead before it glowed in a bright white light, its wounds closing up thanks to the healing energy being applied, before it stood up and looked at the wounds that were no longer there. It then started looking back at Shiro with less predatory stare, and more of one which implied that it was ready to go into a full-on warzone.

Shiro then walked back to Xuanzang as she gawked at Shiro as she talks. "Wha…. how?"

"Simple, I can see in its eyes that it hates the vampire, and wants to get its revenge on that abomination. Since you said we need to have a plan to stop them, well I just thought of one. I and the Beast will go against the Vampire while you go after the Necromancer." the white haired male stated, like he had solved all their problems whilst the Beast in black strolled up to his side like a warrior's mount.

"Well I….. that's not a bad plan, actually."

"Good, now let's get out of here."

With that done, Shiro walked to the hole before he squatted down on his knee and jumped up to the surface, having Rashomon thrust him higher by stabbing multiple Threads into the ground to use as a propelling force.

Seeing this, the Beast then made a show of its abilities as well, jumping onto the walls before it used them as springboards after a brief running period to leap on out of the hole with him.

Finally, Xuanzang did the same as Shiro did but without the threads, resulting in them getting out of the hole and landing in front of Carl who looked at them. "Did you find anything that was down there?"

"Yes we did look."

Shiro pointed behind him as the beast looked at Carl as he was with fear before it changed to shock.

"Oh my god…. Is that….. A Nargacuga?!

"The what now?"

"The Nargacuga are a type of species that belongs to the wyvern race. They have the ability to attack with almost every part of its body, mainly its bladed wings and its spiked tail. Its head can be used for biting, similar to some other species. Its bladed wings are used almost for the entire battle and deal high damage. Its tail tip, which can be with a Tail that can launch sharp spikes, it's an extremely dangerous being. I read that when it's enraged, the tail spikes will protrude until it calms down. The Nargacuga also has extremely strong muscles that let it jump long distances and tall heights at high speed. These creatures are almost impossible to even tame that not even a satan or some gods can tame them!" Carl explained.

This prompted Shiro to look down at the now named Nargacuga, before looking back to the human. "Huh… neat." he stated simply, not really giving much of a shit about it.

Something which did NOT sit too well with Carl. "Neat?! Is that all you have to say, you basically tamed a top wanted beast that everyone wants!" the human exclaimed, wondering just HOW Shiro could see the feat that he had just casually done like its no big deal.

Shiro then sought to clarify something for the robed man, holding an index finger up to his eye level at the side of his vision. "I didn't tame it, Carl. I'm just borrowing him so that we can get all the help we can, once we're done, it can leave to do whatever it wants." he explained, getting a grunt of acknowledgement from the Nargacuga, which then proceeded to gaze at Carl as if to say 'you want to try that again, punk?'

On the side, Xuanzang had to facepalm herself, noticing multiple distinct similarities between the two. 'Oh my god, now there's two of them…' she thought in lementation. She would have to work with two emos now...

"Oh…. ok, I was just surprised to see this Beast in person."

Nodding his head in understanding, Shiro then turned towards the keeper's direction once again. "Well now you do, if you'll excuse us we have a vampire and the undead guy waiting for us." he stated, starting his trek back to the Keep. All the while, the Nargacuga did the same, grunting as it's tail swished behind it in eager bloodlust, it's desire to rip apart it's prey starting to seep out of it just like how Shiro's body did.

Carl could only sweat drop, noticing the same similarities that Xuanzang had. "Alright, but be safe, you two are our last hope in killing that vampire." He called out to them, with Shiro glancing idly behind him at the human.

"Don't worry Carl we will stop them, I promise." he said.

At this, Carl nodded his head, knowing just how determined that this man could be when he set his sights on something. He hadn't known the kid for long, but just from what he'd seen he already felt like he'd seen enough to gauge how his character was. "Ok, I need to find a place to live now since those idiots won't let me be with them."

"... you know you can join the hindu faction."

Now THAT caught Carl's attention, bringing him out of his trance as he looked to Shiro with shock. Also, on the side Xuanzang had joined up with the dark duo in their trek. "The Hindu faction? But they were isolated for so long that even everyone starts to think they don't exist!" he shouted in confusion.

"They do exist, you think that those beings would be gone forever?"

"Well….. No, but how will I even join them? I doubt that they would accept me."

"Go to India and use this."

Shiro projected a small magic circle on his hand as he sometimes used magic to only enter the hindu heaven once he was back there. Carl was still before he touched the magic circle as it appeared on the back of his hand. "Find a temple and pray at it. Show my magic circle to it and say that the descendent of Karna has sent you, they will definitely allow you to join them."

"I-I see… thank you so much Shiro… I promise that I will repay you this."

"Just do it by joining the Hindu faction, Carl."

"Ok and….. Good luck Shiro. I have faith that you will succeed."

Carl then turned his back and walked through the rain, leaving Shiro, Xuanzang and the Nargacuga alone before they resumed their walk to the castle, preparing to finish off Vladislaus and Daversnoch once and for all.

* * *

**AN: Hunter here, and welcome to a new Chapter of Frenzy. In this bad boy, we have had Shiro go up against an Arrogant Vampire Lord (this state being inspired by the powers which Dracula from the 2004 Van Hellsing film showed) who he proceeded to utterly wreck. But do NOT think that this guy is weak, he will showcase what he can TRULY do as a Vampire Lord when they fight again. Also, Xuanxzang from the Fate series is here, and there could possibly be other fait waifus added in somehow as well… though, is it just me or does this fanfic have most of its arcs inspired from films instead of anime/manga? I see a theme here… In any case, hope you like the chap, offer us what you think could happen and ways we can improve the fic, and look forward to the next one.**

**PEACE OUT!**

**Alright now we're getting somewhere….. My name is Darklord bringing you another chapter of the story! Now if you noticed we did two arcs out from a movie not from an anime, because we want to do something different than just follow ups from anime, so hunter suggested we should go for Films and here it is! For the next story, we are going to work on MHD(Monster hunting devil) because I have an inspiration for the Vali saga story that I'm anxious for! For the vampire lord, the blood he drank from a mythical beast is something related to a jewish legend, a legendary griffon try and guess it. Alright thank you reading our story, be sure to leave a review if you want and I'll see you next time!**

**GOOD LUCK!**


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